'"'y^ 


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THE 

NEGATIVE   COMPOUNDS 
IN  GREEK. 

A    DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED  TO  THE  BOARD  OF  UNIVERSITY   STUDIES 

OF  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

BY 


HOLLISTER   ADELBERT   HAMILTON, 

PROFESSOR   OF   GREEK   IN   ELMIRA    COLLEGE. 


^NfVERsnv 
.  (s.     or 


BALTIMORE 
1899 


JOHN   MURPHY   COMPANY,    PRINTERS, 
BALTIMORE. 


r\Z^uz:) 


H3 
CONTENTS.  M/XIN 


Page. 
I.   Introductory, 5 

II.  The  Form  of  the  Prefix, 6 

The  term  alpha-privative. — Suggestion  as  to  its  possible  origin. — 
The  Indo-European  negatives. — Accent. — The  form  of  the 
prefix  in  Greek,  lengthening  of  it,  a-  before  vowels,  the  forms 
I/7J-  and  01/0-.  ..._...-. 

III.  The  Form  and  Classification  op  the  Compounds,      -       -         15 

IV.  The  Limitations  on  the  Use  of  the  Prefix  in  Composition,  17 

The  original  sphere  of  the  prefix. — Its  use  with  the  partici- 
ple,— with  the  infinitive, — with  the  finite  verb, — with  nouns 
in  immutata, — with  adjectives. 

V.    The  Favorite  Types  of  Negative  Compounds,    -        -        -  27 

The  compounds  with  the  verbals  in  -tos. — The  mutata  of  a- 
privative  -{-  noun. 

VI.   Expressions  which  may  replace  the  Negative  Compounds,  29 

Use  of  the  sentence-negative, — of  Svcr-  and  kuko-, — of  preposi- 
tions in  composition, —  of  certain  verb-stems, —  of  certain 
adjective-stems.— Substitutes  for  the  derivatives. 

VII.   The  Semasiology  of  the  Negative  Compounds,  -        -  35 

Development  from  original  free  negative  to  the  negative  in 
composition. —  Negative  and  contrary  significations,  thence 
a  positive  content. —  Prefix  with  the  force  of  a  sentence- 
negative. — Privation  and  negation. — Hyperbole. 

VIII.   The  Negative  Compounds  as  an  Element  of  Style,  -  41 

Stylistic  character  of  compounds  in  general. — The  artistic  and 
technical  spheres.  —  Stylistic  effects  of  the  negative  com- 
pounds.— Massing  of  them  together,  alliteration,  anaphora, — 
feeling  in  privation, — triplets. — Figura  etymologica. — Oxy- 
moron.— The  proportional  metaphor. — Antithesis. — Litotes. 
— Extension  in  form  for  phonetic  impress! veness. 

IX.    History  of  the  Formation  of  the  Negative  Compounds 

IN  Greek, 53 

Compounds  possibly  inherited  from  the  proethnic  speech. — 
Tables  showing  emergence  of  the  compounds  in  the  litera- 
ture.— Contributions  of  different  portions  of  the  literature  to 
the  number  of  negative  compounds. — The  various  classes  of 
negative  words, — d-privative  -|-  adjective, — growth  of  com- 
pounds with  verbals  in  -tos  at  the  expense  of  the  mutata, — 
derivatives,  especially  the  abstract  nouns. — The  vt)-  com- 
pounds. 

3 


THE  NEGATIVE  COMPOUNDS  IN  GREEK. 


I.     INTRODUCTORY. 

The  study  of  the  negative  compounds  in  Greek  may  afford  a 
single  chapter  in  the  history  of  nonn-composition  in  that  language, 
a  subject  which  has  not  yet  received  a  comprehensive  treatment, 
nor  one  which  is  commensurate  with  its  importance  in  more  than 
one  department  of  philology.  The  compounds  of  alpha-privative 
make  one  of  the  largest  groups  and  one  of  the  simplest  types  of 
composite  word-formation  and  the  investigation  has  a  varied  interest 
as  we  may  approach  our  task  from  the  formal,  the  semantic,  the 
stylistic,  or  the  historical  side.  Thus  we  may  consider  first  the 
forms  in  which  the  negative  prefix  appears,  the  restrictions  of  its 
use  in  composition,  and  the  types  of  compounds  which  are  formed 
by  it.  Again,  the  semasiological  character  of  these  compounds 
claims  attention,  both  as  to  the  various  shades  of  negative  concep- 
tions and  relations  which  they  may  express  and  as  to  the  part 
which  they  play  in  comparison  with  other  means  which  the  lan- 
guage possesses  for  negative  expression.  In  the  third  place  the 
employment  of  these  compounds  has  a  stylistic  importance,  espe- 
cially where  they  appear  massed  together,  where  they  belong  to 
certain  poetic  or  technical  spheres,  or  where  they  are  used  as  the 
vehicles  of  certain  figurative  forms  of  expression.  Finally,  we 
have  to  give  some  account  of  the  history  of  the  formation  and  use 
of  the  negative  compounds  in  the  various  departments  of  the 
literature  and  through  the  different  periods  of  the  language. 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 


II.    THE  FORM  OF  THE  PREFIX. 

The  regular  and  productive  form  of  the  negative  prefix  in  Greek 
is  the  so-called  a-privative  (dX^a  ar€pi]TCK6v).  The  negative 
prefix  VT)-  is  archaic  and  poetic  and  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  pro- 
ductive in  any  period  of  the  language. 

Philologians  now-a-days  are  wont  to  speak  of  the  so-called 
alpha-privative,  and  this  is  because  that  designation  is  misleading 
in  both  its  parts.  For  in  the  first  place  the  ante-vocalic  form  dv- 
undoubtedly  represents  more  nearly  the  original  form  of  the  prefix 
than  does  the  ante-consonantal  d-,  and  it  is  the  nasal  which  is  its 
characteristic  element  and  which  is  still  common  to  most  of  its 
forms  in  the  various  languages  cognate  with  Greek ;  cf.  Lat.  iw-, 
Germ,  un-,  etc.  The  origin  of  the  term  a/^/ia-privative  is  doubt- 
less due  partly  to  the  fact  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  the 
prefix  stands  before  a  consonant,  and  so  appears  as  a-  rather  than 
du-,  and  partly  to  the  accepted  view  of  the  ancients  and  of  earlier 
modern  scholars  that  the  v  was  inserted  after  the  d  for  the  avoid- 
ance of  hiatus.  Secondly,  the  meaning  of  the  prefix  is  by  no 
means  merely  privative,  i.  e.  denoting  the  removal  of  that  which 
was  before  possessed  or  the  absence  of  that  which  is  aimed  at  or 
expected,  but  it  is  rather  negative  in  the  widest  sense,  running  the 
whole  gamut  of  possible  shades  of  negation.  A  more  proper  des- 
ignation, therefore,  would  be  ar-negative,  which,  however,  in  defer- 
ence to  established  usage  we  shall  not  venture  to  employ. 

A  comparison  of  the  forms  in  the  extant  languages  of  the  Indo- 
European  family  points  unmistakably  towards  the  use  of  a  nasal 
element  as  a  negative  sign  in  the  pro-ethnic  speech.  We  are  able 
to  discern  also  that  the  early  language  differentiated  the  negative 
of  the  sentence  from  the  negative  which  formed  a  close  compound 
with  a  noun,  an  adjective,  or  an  adverb.  We  can  tell  too  the 
classes  of  compounds  into  which  in  this  early  period  the  latter  form 
of  the  negative  entered.  If  we  attempt  to  go  further  back  than 
this,  we  can  no  longer  speak  of  scientific  knowledge,  but  must  be 
content  to  ascribe  to  our  surmises  merely  the  character  of  a  jprioH 
probability  or  possibility. 

Perhaps  without  claiming  for  the  fancy  any  more  than  it  is 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  7 

worth  we  may  be  permitted  to  indulge  in  a  conjecture  as  to  one  of 
the  possible  ways  in  which  the  use  of  a  nasal  element  as  a  negative 
sign  may  have  originated.  We  must  assume  that  the  growth  of 
language  has  always  been,  as  we  see  it  now,  a  process  of  adaptation 
of  means  to  end.  The  end  was  and  is  the  practical  one  of  com- 
municating thought  to  one's  fellows;  the  means  anything  which 
by  association  can  effect  the  desired  communication,  whether  it  be 
some  spoken  symbol  originating  in  onomatopoeia,  or  interjection, 
or  gesture,  or  what  not. 

The  earliest  definite  oral  expression  of  negation  by  the  child 
would  naturally  often  occur  with  reference  to  its  chief  object  of 
interest,  its  food.  Now  the  refusal  of  food  by  one  who  has  not  yet 
mastered  articulate  speech  requires  a  closed  mouth  ;  so,  if  this  be 
accompanied,  as  it  is  apt  to  be,  by  vocal  utterance,  a  nasal  is  pro- 
duced, generally  the  labial  or  dental  nasal.  The  child's  negative 
is  thus  a  'vocal  gesture,'  or  an  interjection.  A  similar  explanation 
might  account  for  the  origin  of  shaking  the  head  or  throwing  out 
the  hands  sidewise  as  signs  of  negation.  Languages  widely  sepa- 
rated and  outside  of  the  Indo-European  family  also  have  what  we 
may  call  a  nasal  negative,  e.  g.  in  the  American  languages,  Poko- 
raan,  Quichl,  Maya,  Haytian,  Gvajiro,  ma;  Paez,  me;  Kechua, 
mana ;  Hidatsa,  desa  {d  being  interchangeable  with  n);  cf.  Douay, 
Etudes  Etymologiques  sur  I'Antiquite  Americaine,  Paris,  1891,  p. 
24.     Note  too  the  use  of  m  in  the  negative  verb  in  Turkish. 

At  any  rate,  whatever  knowledge  or  theory  we  can  hope  to  have 
about  the  form  of  the  negative  in  the  glottogonic  period  of  speech 
must  be  reached  by  some  such  method,  i.  e.  by  studying  the  modern 
phenomena  which  are  observed  either  in  the  infancy  of  the  indi- 
vidual or  in  incipient  stages  in  the  development  of  linguistic  pro- 
cesses. In  some  such  way  as  we  have  indicated,  or  indeed  in  any 
one  of  various  other  ways,  a  negative  sign  might  arise,  as  the  act 
expressing  the  negation  became  less  and  less  instinctive  and  more 
and  more  conventional ;  and  only  by  degrees  would  the  accom- 
panying sound  become  an  articulate  word  with  a  definite  place  in 
the  sentence.  Cf  Paul,  Principles  of  Language  (Eng.  trans.),  p. 
122,  "One  might  very  well  imagine  that  negative  sentences 
might  be  formed  in  a  primitive  stage  of  development  of  language 


8  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Gh-eek. 

in  which  the  negative  sense  might  be  indicated  by  nothing  else 
than  the  stress  and  the  accompanying  gestures." 

But  in  these  matters  the  only  safe  attitude  is  that  of  an  agnostic. 
Such  an  attitude  we  must  bear  also  toward  the  theory  of  the  origin 
of  the  negatives  from  a  demonstrative  root.  This  theory  would 
identify  the  original  form  of  the  negative  with  the  pronominal  ana, 
meaning  at  first  'yonder/  then  'other/  and  gradually  acquiring  a 
purely  negative  force ;  cf.  Pott,  E.  F.  ^,  i,  p.  382. 

ne,  ne,  no,  no,  n-  ("w),  n-  have  been  assumed  as  the  forms  in 

which  the  negative  appeared  in  the  primitive  Indo-European  lan- 
guage. Cf.  Fowler,  The  Negatives  of  the  Indo-European  Lan- 
guages, Chicago,  1896,  p.  1.  There  is  wide  difference  in  the 
character  and  weight  of  the  evidence  for  the  existence  of  each  of 
these  various  forms,  but  it  is  at  least  clear,  as  has  been  stated,  that 
even  in  the  pro-ethnic  speech  there  was  a  differentiation  between 
the  negative  of  the  verb  or  of  the  sentence  and  that  of  the  noun. 
Of  these  forms,  if  all  were  in  existence,  I-E.  ne,  ne,  no,  no  belonged 
to  the  verb  or  to  the  sentence,  and  n-  (*n),  h-  to  the  noun  (including 

the  adjective).     The  difference  between  n-,  nn-  and  n-  is  purely  one 

of  form,  not  of  meaning ;  cf.  Kruzewski,  Techmer's  Zeitschrift,  in, 
p.  185,  who  says  that  "prefixes  have  so  definite  a  meaning  that 
phonetic  variations  could  not  be  used  for  any  internal  distinction 
in  signification."  So  too,  as  there  is  only  one  kind  of  negation 
known  to  logic,  the  different  forms  of  the  I-E.  negative  must  be 
thought  of  as  having  originated  through  different  accentual  rela- 
tions due  to  their  position  in  the  sentence  and  not  as  expressing 
degrees  or  varieties  of  negative  force.  That  the  heavier  forms 
should  have  been  used  for  the  negative  of  the  sentence  is  probably 
due  to  the  enclisis  of  the  verb.  The  natural  and  common  view  is 
to  regard  the  negative  prefix  as  a  weak  ablaut  form  of  the  stronger 
particle.  Bopp's  identification  (Ygl.  Gram.,  §  537)  of  the  a- 
privative  with  the  verbal  augment  is  now  nothing  more  than  one 
of  the  curiosities  of  the  history  of  philology ;  cf.  Pott,  E.  F.^,  ii, 
p.  398. 

This  weaker  form  of  the  negative  which  appears  in  the  privative 
prefix  must  go  back  to  conditions  in  which  the  negative  was  with- 
out accent.     Yet  secondary  causes  operating  in  pro-ethnic  times 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek,  9 

seemed  to  have  caused  the  prefix  to  be  accented  in  primary  compo- 
sition, i.  e.  in  immutata  (descriptives,  karmadhdraya).  In  secon- 
dary composition  the  mutata  (possessives,  bahuv7'lhi)  seem  to  have 
largely  lost  this  accent  (on  the  prefix)  of  the  immutata  from  which 
they  were  derived  and  to  have  become  oxytone.  See  Knauer, 
Ueber  die  Betonung  der  Composita  mit  a-privatum  in  Sanskrit, 
K.  Z.  XXVI,  pp.  65  ff.  In  the  case  of  mutata  with  stems  ending 
in  -es  this  loss  would  seem  to  go  back  to  the  pro-ethnic  speech ;  in 
the  case  of  the  other  mutata  the  loss,  where  it  has  occurred,  belongs 
only  to  the  individual  languages.  Thus  it  has  become  a  general 
rule  for  mutata  of  all  types  in  Sanskrit,  while  in  Greek  it  has  not 
gone  beyond  the  stems  in  -69.  See  Streitberg,  I-G.  Forschungen, 
I,  pp.  87  f.,  94. 

For  Greek  it  may  be  stated  as  a  general  rule  that,  with  the 
exception  of  the  stems  in  -e?  and  a  few  minor  groups,  the  accent  is 
generally  recessive  in  compounds  with  the  negative  prefix,  both 
immutata  and  mutata,  though  we  can  hardly  tell  whether  this  is 
due  to  the  general  recessive  law  or  to  the  tendency  to  accent  the 
first  members  of  these  compounds.  Mutata  in  -e?  (nom.  -779)  are 
with  few  exceptions  oxytone. 

This  theory,  that  the  oxytonesis  of  the  Greek  mutata  in  -?;9  is  a 
remnant  of  an  old  bahuvrihi  (mutatum)  accent  the  tendency  toward 
which  started  before  the  separation  of  the  languages,  is  that  of 
Knauer,  who  holds  that  this  tendency  was  limited  by  other  tenden- 
cies in  Greek  to  the  mutata  in  -779,  while  in  Sanskrit  it  became  a 
rule  for  mutata  in  general.  But  the  view  has  also  been  held  that 
the  peculiar  accent  of  the  compounds  is  due  to  a  tendency  to  take 
an  accent  like  that  of  the  simple  adjectives  in  -779 ;  cf.  Schroeder, 
K.  Z.,  XXIV,  p.  110,  and  Wheeler,  Der  Griechische  Nominal- 
accent,  p.  46,  n.  1, 

While  the  other  languages  of  the  I-E.  family  have  preserved  the 
nasal  in  their  representatives  of  the  I-E.  negative  prefix  n-  (*n)  as 

in  Lat.  in-,  Germ,  un-,  Old  Ir.  an-,  the  Greek  agrees  with  the 
Sanskrit  and  Avestan  in  having  the  privative  prefix  in  the  form 
of  av-  [an-)  before  vowels  and  of  a-  (a-)  before  consonants.  In 
Greek  there  are  a  few  apparent  exceptions  to  this  rule.     So  for 

^ve(f)€\o<i,  Od.  6,  45,  some  codices  read  avve(f)€Xo<; ;  cf.  aWo(f)o<;,  II. 


10  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

10,258  (v.  1.  dXo(})o^).  There  are  a  number  of  other  phenomena  ii» 
the  Homeric  poems  which  seem  to  favor  the  view  that  these  forms 
may  be  due  largely  to  metrical  necessity  in  the  hexameter.     We 

have  d-  regularly  through  the  language  in  dddvaro<i,  which  is 
doubtless  a  very  old  word  and  by  far  the  most  common  of  the  pri- 
vative compounds  in  early  Greek  poetry,  constituting  more  than  one- 
seventh  of  all  the  occurrences  in  Homer  and  just  one-fourth  of  those 

in  Hesiod.     So  we  have  d-  in   dKafiaroi;  in  dactylic  poetry  and 

later  d7raXafio<i  (Hes.)  and  dTrapafivdc;  (Aesch.).  The  otherwise 
constant  habit  of  the  language  rather  forbids  us  to  call  these  cases 
of  compensatory  lengthening  for  the  loss  of  the  v  of  the  prefix,  but 
it  is  more  likely  that  we  have  here  to  do  with  a  phenomenon  par- 
allel with  '^ve/jioei'i  from  ave/xo^;,  dvcovv/juo^  from  6vo/xa,  the  result 
of  a  tendency  toward  the  lengthening  of  short  vowels  of  which  the 
epic  poet  availed  himself  under  stress  of  metrical  necessity,  just  as 
he  used  always  d'KToXefjbO^  for  the  unmetrical  d7r6\efio<;.  For  the 
rare  lengthening  of  a-privative  in  Sanskrit,  see  Whitney,  Sanskrit 
Grammar,  1121  c. 

The  word  't]K€(Tro<;  [  =  'untouched  by  the  goad'  (?)]  is  found 
only  in  the  Homeric  line,  Tjva  r)Kecna<;  iepevaeixev,  at  k  e\.er]crri{i)y 
II.  6,  94,  275,  309.  If  we  have  really  to  do  with  the  negative 
prefix  here,  it  may  be  said  that  the  phrase,  iqvt^  r)Ke<TTa^  was  prob- 
ably a  crystallized  expression  and  that  the  metre  requires  the  word 

in  question  to  be  scanned ;  ?;  for  d  may  be  dialectic,  the 

consciousness  of  the  relation  to  a-privative  being  lost,  and  the 
alliteration  may  have  had  some  influence.  But  a-privative 
appears  nowhere  else  in  Homer  as  t;  and  the  signification  of  the 
word  as  given  in  the  lexica  rests  apparently  on  the  ancient  expla- 
nation of  it  as  =  dK6VTr}To<i.  For  a  discussion  of  the  word  see 
Froehde,  Bezz.  Beitr.  yii,  328. 

Uncertain  too  is  the  presence  of  the  negative  prefix  in  d/jb(})acrlT} 
in  II.  17,  695,  Od.  4,  704,  where  there  is,  however,  some  manu- 
script tradition  supporting  d(f)aaLr).  Pott,  E.  F.^,  p.  390  suggested 
a  confusion  in  d/j.(f)acrirj  between  the  negative  prefix  and  dvd  or 
dfji(t>L  Froehde,  Bezz.  Beitr.  xx,  p.  212,  thinks  the  analogy  of 
a/jb^poTo<;  by  the  side  of  ^poro^  may  have  influenced  dfx^aa-LT},. 
while  Brugmann,  Vgl.  Gram.^  I,  p.  419,  refers  this  form  of  the 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  11 

prefix  to  I-E.  n.     I  am  indebted  to  Prof.  Dr.  Hermann  Collitz  for 

0 

the  suggestion  that  the  proper  division  of  the  word  may  be  afKJy-aa-iT) 
and  that  we  may  here  have  to  do  with  the  root  as,  asd,  to  parch  or 
wither,  and  so  the  word  may  be  cognate  with  Gk.  a^a,  a^w,  dtalvco, 
a^aKeo<i,  Lat.  arere,  ardere,  ardor  (for  asdor),  Eng.  ashes.  Cf. 
Fick,  Vergleichendes  Worterbuch  der  I-G.  Sprachen,^  ii,  p.  28. 

With  regard  to  the  appearance  of  the  form  a-  before  vowels  it 
may  be  remarked  that  words  like  dvirvo^  (Hom.)  and  aoLKo^  (Hes.) 
were  formed  in  a  period  when  initial  a  and  F  still  existed  in  the 
simple  words ;  in  some  cases  the  same  compounds  took  av-  later 
when  the  traces  of  the  original  initial  consonant  had  entirely  dis- 
appeared, e.  g.  dvocKo<;  (Hdt.),  dwirvo'^  ^y^-) )  but  ciovro^  and 
avovTaTo<i  are  both  Homeric.  dveaTio^  and  dvetfjiwv  are  found  in 
Homer,  but  perhaps  only  in  the  later  parts ;  the  latter  word  is 
found  only  in  the  Odyssey,  ddara  and  aacr^ero?  are  of  doubtful 
explanation.  The  true  exceptions  to  the  rule,  such  as  dopvo<i, 
do(Tfio<i,  mostly  with  the  prefix  before  a,  w,  are  doubtless  due  to 
the  analogy  of  the  earlier  and  authorized  cases ;  but  most  of  these 
have  also  forms  with  dv-.  The  differentiation  of  form  before 
vowels  and  consonants  is  perhaps  Indo-European,  as  the  agreement 
of  Sanskrit  and  Greek  would  seem  to  show,  although  in  other 
languages  we  find  the  same  form  for  both  cases,  as  in  Lat.  in-, 
Germ.  un-. 

The  proof  for  the  existence  of  n  as  an  I-E.  negative  prefix  is 

not  nearly  so  abundant  as  is  that  for  the  existence  of  the  shorter 
forms.  Schulze,  K.  Z.  xxvii,  p.  606,  accepts  the  equation  : 
Greek  vd-,  vrj-  =  I-E.  n,  and  correlates  these  with  Italic  an-]  in 

o 

fact  he  gives  the  proportion,  Lat,  in- :  Ital.  an-  =  Gk.  dp- :  vt]-  ; 
while  Kretschmer,  K.  Z.  xxxi,  pp.  405,  412,  puts  Greek  vd-, 
VT]-  =  I-E.  *nd-  and  denies  the  necessity  of  positing  a  longnasalis 
sonans  for  the  parent  speech.  Persson,  I-G.  Forsch.  II,  p.  228, 
puts  Greek  vd-,  vrj-  in  relation  with  Lat.  ne. 

The  matter  is  further  obscured  by  formal  difficulties,  vt]-  actu- 
ally does  appear  as  a  negative  prefix  in  epic,  as  in  V7]'i<;,  vrjKepSi]';, 
v7)'Trevdr]<;  and  vt^Kepo<i.  With  regard  to  this  prefix  vrj-  let  us  con- 
sider the  following  possibilities  :  (1)  that  vr}-  may  represent  n  used 

as  a  negative  prefix  in  I-E.  times,  (2)  that  it  represents  the  I-EJ/ 


12  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Gfreek. 

sentence  negative  ne  or  ne,  and  (3)  that  it  arose  on  Greek  ground 
but  is  to  be  derived  from  the  I-E.  prefix  n  (*n). 

(1).  Certainly  there  is  something  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  cor- 
relation of  Greek  vd-,  vr]-  with  an  I-E.  n.     For  those  who  assume 

o 

n  as  an  I-E.  sound  find  its  regular  representative  in  Skr.  a  and 

Gk.  vd;  thus  the  aforementioned  rare  lengthening  of  a-  privative 
in  Sanskrit  would  be  parallel  to  Greek  vd-,  vrj-.  In  the  second 
place  I-E.  n  is  assumed  to  result  frequently  from  the  reduction  of 

a  dissyllabic  root.  Thus  from  I-E.  *  i/gene  we  have  the  propor- 
tion, I-E.  *  genetor :  *  gn-tos  =  Skr.  janilar :  jdtds  =  Lat.  genitor : 

o 

gndtus  =  Gh.  yeveTcop  (second  e  irregular)  :  yvrjTOfi  in  Ka<TLyv7)To<s. 
This  suggests  a  possible  correlation  of  vrj-  with  the  troublesome 
ava-  of  dvdeSvofi  (Hom.),  ameXTrro?  (Hes.),  and  the  less  certain 
dvdyva>(TTO<i  (Callim.),  dvaTrvevarci  (Hes.).  Cf.  6dvaT0<i,  6vr)To<;, 
etc.  We  should  expect,  however,  iva  rather  than  dva,  and  it  is 
more  convincing  to  explain  these  forms  of  the  prefix  otherwise. 
Cf.  p.  14,  where  the  existence  of  dva-  as  a  simple  form  of  the 
negative  prefix  is  shown  to  be  improbable  and  this  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  doubtful  character  of  n  as  an  I-E.  sound  renders 

o 

very  unsatisfying  the  assumption  of  any  such  origin  for  the 
prefix  vr)-. 

(2).  From  what  is  said  hereafter  showing  the  frequent  use 
of  the  Greek  sentence  negative  as  a  substitute  for  the  negative 
prefix,  it  may  not  be  thought  improbable  that  the  Greek  vrj-  may 
represent  the  I-E.  sentence  negative  ne  or  even  ne  -\-  a  following 
initial  vowel.  Cf.  Hartung,  Gr.  Part,  ii,  pp.  89  if.  n^  in  Lithu- 
anian and  ne  in  Old  Bulgarian  are  used  as  negative  prefixes,  and 
see  Leo  Meyer,  Vgl.  Gram.^,  pp.  119,  594.  This  theory,  that 
vr]-  is  a  survival  of  the  I-E.  sentence  negative,  ne,  ne,  is  somewhat 
favored  by  the  very  restricted  scope  of  this  prefix,  for  ne,  ne  were 
otherwise  practically  lost  in  Greek.  One  may  cite  v^  as  used  in 
oaths  and  vai,  perhaps  originally  negative.,  veicrap  seems  to  be  a 
Semitic  loan-word  and  i^eTroSe?  and  ve/3p6<i  have  a  different  ety- 
mology, cf.  Fowler,  op.  cit.  p.  11.  The  use  of  vr}-  as  a  prefix  is 
confined  to  a  few  poetic  words  nearly  all  archaic  or  evident  archaistic 
imitations.    Only  about  50  compounds  and  derivative  words  appar- 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  13 

ently  having  this  prefix  are  quotable ;  of  these  only  one  appears 
first  in  Attic  prose,  and  this  is  vrjirotvei,,  Andoc,  after  Homeric 
V7]7rocvo<;.  But  aside  from  these  words  tliere  is  no  example  of  the 
survival  of  this  I-E.  sentence  negative  in  Greek  as  a  prefix  or 
otherwise,  and  to  explain  vco86<;,  v(oSvvo<;,  v(ovvfj,o<;  on  this  basis 
we  should  have  to  assume  an  I-E.  no  to  have  survived  in  Greek  ; 
which  is  very  doubtful  in  any  case. 

(3).  In  vrjcrrtf  (j/iS-),  vi]V€/j,o<;,  vr)fiepTi]<i,  vri\er}<i,  vrjKOvaTO<i, 
vrjKe(TTo<;,  vrjpL6fjLo<;,  VT^yperci,  and  also  v(ovvfxo<i  the  prefix  1/77-,  if 
such  was  its  early  form,  has  not  been  kept  pure.  Further,  most 
of  these  forms  have  by  their  side  forms  like  avrja-rc^,  dv7]vefx,o<i, 
av7)\er}<i,  dv7]K0vaT0<;,  dvr}Kecno<i,  dvi]pid/jbO<;,  dvcovv/jbo^;.  Clemm's 
suggestion,  Curt.  Stud,  viii,  14,  that  we  have  in  these  last  forms 
an  instrumental  dvrj-,  from  which  vrj-  results  by  aphaeresis,  would 
hardly  now  be  regarded  as  tenable,  but  his  alternative  suggestion, 
that  "  they  have  undergone  the  same  prolongation  which  is  wont 
for  metrical  reasons  to  be  found  in  other  words,"  has  more  of 
plausibility.  There  are  other  Homeric  forms  like  dv7]fi€\KTo<;, 
dvrjvvcno^,  dvriporo<i,  dvrjvopa,  which  have  no  forms  in  vrj-  by 
their  side,  but  the  existence  of  so  many  doublets  like  dvrjvefxof;, 
vrjveixo<i,  make  it  natural  to  infer  an  identity  of  origin  for  dv-  and  v-. 
The  words  in  question  are  all  very  old  words  and  it  would  appear 
that  in  one  stage  of  the  language  there  was  a  tendency  to  represent 
the  I-E.  prefix  before  long  vowels  by  v-.  It  was  natural  that 
later  this  should  succumb  before  the  far  more  common  ante- 
vocalic  dv-. 

From  words  like  v7]V€/j,o<i,  i^T^yu-e/jr?;?,  etc.,  it  would  be  easy  to 
account  for  the  development  of  a  suffix  vtj-  by  'clipping;'  whence 
vryt9,  vr^Kephrjq,  v't]'rr6vdi]<;,  etc.  This  seems  to  us  more  convincing 
than  Pott's  idea  that  a  form  like  dvT]\€7]<i  might  be  due  to  a  con- 
fusion of  dv-  and  vr)-,  and  so  be  a  sort  of  syncretism  of  dve\€r]<i 
and  v7]Xei]'i. 

The  attempts  at  explaining  what  appears  to  be  a  fix  dva-  in  the 
words  dvdeSvoi;,  dvaekirro'^,  dvdyvcoaro';,  dvd7rv€vaT0<i,  already 
cited  p.  12,  have  been  many  and  various.  The  last  two  of  these 
words,  being  late,  have  been  explained  as  analogical  formations ; 
cf.  Froehde.  Bezz.  Beitr.  xx,  p.  212.  Schneider,  however, 
changes  dvdyvcoa-rov  with  some  probability  to  dv  dyvtaarov,  where 


14  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

it  occurs  iu  Callimachus,  fr.  422,  and  avaTrveva-Ta  iu  Hes.  Th, 
797  was  changed  by  Hartuug,  Gr.  Part,  ii,  p.  75,  to  ap'  atrvevcrrotf 
(cf.  Od.  5,  456)  and  by  Hermann,  Opusc.  vi,  p.  164,  to  a^i 
aTTvevara,  Job.  Schmidt,  K.  Z.  xxiii,  p.  271  ff.,  would 
explain  the  second  vowel  in  the  first  two  of  the  forms  mentioned 
above  {dvdeSvo<;,  dvde\7rro<;)  as  developed  from  the  lost  F  (cf.  Har- 
tung,  1.  c),  but  in  the  other  forms  as  due  to  the  following  double 
consonant  in  the  effort  to  avoid  three  successive  consonants.  Thus 
the  second  a  would  be  only  a  svarabhahti  or  parasitic  vowel.  Thi& 
explanation,  however,  would  assume  the  existence  of  a  form  dv- 
before  consonants,  otherwise  supported  only  by  the  Homeric 
dfj,(l)acr[7),  which  has  been  differently  explained  above. 

The  occurrence  of  a  dissyllabic  form  of  the  prefix  has  been 
asserted  too  for  other  languages  besides  Greek.  Pischel,  Bezz. 
Beitr.  iii,  p.  245,  remarks  on  the  extended  use  of  ana-  on  Indian 
ground,  and  on  the  strength  of  Indian  ana-,  Old  Bactrian  ana-, 
Celtic  ana-,  Greek  dva-,  Old  High  Germ.,  una-,  he  assumes  ana- 
as  the  I-E.  basic  form,  as  already  Buttmann,  Gram,  ii,  §  120^ 
anm.  1,  and  Olafsky  (see  Neue  Jahrb.  f.  CI.  Phil.  u.  Paed.  Lxxiv, 
p.  581).  This  assumed  basic  form  has  been  identified  with  the 
pronominal  stem,  ana,  Pott.  E.  F.^,  i,  p.  384,  or  again  with  the 
prepositional  ana  =  dvd;  Johansson,  Bezz.  Beitr.  xv,  p.  310. 
Pott  would  explain  the  prefix  an-  and  the  adverb  na  as  arising 
from  ana  under  different  accentual  conditions,  thus,  dn{a)-,  {a)nd-. 

But  it  seems  needless  to  argue  for  ana-  as  the  original  I-E. 
basic  form  of  the  prefix,  for  at  any  rate  this  cannot  have  been  the 
only  form  just  previous  to  the  separation  of  the  individual  lan- 
guages. Otherwise  it  is  difficult  to  explain,  first,  the  form  a-, 
common  to  Aryan  and  Greek,  and  secondly,  the  very  limited 
scope  in  Greek  of  the  prefix  dva-,  if  such  there  be.  It  is  likely 
that  the  dissyllabic  forms  of  the  prefix  arose  during  the  separate 
development  of  the  languages  in  which  they  occur.  For  the 
independent  origin  of  ana-  in  Celtic  before  consonants  see  Zimmer, 
K.  Z.  XXIV,  p.  524. 

It  seems  probable  then  that  the  forms  with  initial  dva-  are  a 
secondary  development  within  the  Greek  language.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  the  same  explanation  should  hold  for  all  cases.  In 
some  instances  the  apparent  prefix  dva-  may  be  due  to  'clipping'; 


VM'.v 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  15 

thus  Froehde,  Bezz.  Beitr.  xx,  p.  213,  assumes  ai^aeSz/o?  to  be 
for  ay  +  *  deSvo'i.  Now  we  have  in  Homer  the  simple  word  in 
two  forms,  eSva,  eeSva,  and  Hesychius  glosses  clehvov  by  a(f)€pvov 
rj  TToXvc^epvov.  If  the  ancient  lexicographer  really  understood  the 
word,  the  second  a  in  avdehvo<i  was  either  negative  or  intensive. 
The  suggestion  of  Wharton,  Trans.  Philol.  Soc,  1891-4,  p.  331, 
that  dv-  in  these  words  =  n-  and  is  intensive,  so  that  dvdehvo<i 

o 

means  '  quite  dowerless,'  would  presuppose  a  double  prefix 
here  n-n-,  of  which  the  first  part  would  be  intensive  and  the 

0        0 

other  negative. 

The  view  of  Pott,  E.  F.^  i,  p.  389,  that  we  have  in  dvdehvo^ 
a  doubling  of  the  negative  prefix  seems  more  probable.  Cf. 
Bvo-dfi/jLopo<;,  II.  XXII,  428,  where  the  scholiast  remarks,  Sva-dfx,- 
lxopo<i,  hehiTrkaalaKe  irpo'i  rrjv  eirirao'iv  •  to  rydp  ova  Kai  a 
ravrov  SrjXova-iv  ;  also  Et.  Mag.  sub  voc,  Svad/jifiopo<i,  co?  r/A-t/ce?, 
6fi'^\cKe<;,  Kai  avvofjir^XtKe^.  Cf.  Skr.  dur-a-dabhna,  anavipra- 
yukta  (explained  by  na  viprayukta),  and  the  more  doubtful  ana- 
vadya,  and  see  Whitney,  Gram.  §  1121,  b.  We  may  add  that  a 
confusion  of  dveeSvo^i  and  de8vo<;  (*  dFeSvo<i)  both  negative  com- 
pounds, may  have  led  to  a  sort  of  blend  in  dvdeSvof;. 

Froehde,  1.  c,  would  connect  dvd7rv€vaTo<;  with  dvairvea),  being 
shortened  by  Miaplology'  from  *  dv-avdirvevarof;,  as  diroiva  from 
*  diro-iroLva  ;  then  again  dvd'yvaxTTO'^  by  analogy.  But  it  is  in 
favor  of  the  assumption  of  a  doubling  of  the  negative  prefix  that 
dryvQ)aTo<;  and  dirvevaro^  are  words  in  good  standing  in  the 
literature. 


III.     FORM   AND   CLASSIFICATION   OF  THE 
COMPOUNDS. 

The  great  productiveness  of  these  negative  formations  and  the 
inseparable  character  of  the  first  part  might  raise  the  question 
whether  these  words  are  really  to  be  considered  as  true  compounds 
and  whether  the  first  element  is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  mere 
prefix,  one  of  the  few  which  the  I-E.  language  possessed.  Pre- 
fixes have,  however,  in  general  a  very  definite  meaning  and  func- 
tion.    They  are  not,  like  the  suffixes,  so  liable  to  be  reduced  to 


16  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek, 

the  level  of  mere  formative  elements.  Hence,  there  is  no  great 
inappropriateness  in  the  common  designation  of  words,  other  than 
derivatives,  which  contain  these  prefixes  as  compounds. 

It  has  been  found  convenient  for  our  purpose  to  classify  as  fol- 
lows the  Greek  words  containing  the  negative  prefix : 

I.    Immutata  (determinatives). 

a.  a-priv.  +  ordinary  adj.,  as  a^dp^apoq. 

b.  d-priv.  +  vbl.  in  -to<;,  as  a^uTd,  d^Laaro^;. 
G.  a-priv.  -j-  other  pples.,  as  deKoov,  dvdpp,evo<i. 

d.  a-priv.  +  noun,  as  dhutTrj^,  dveLKaiorri<^. 
II.   So-called  synthetica. 

e.  a-priv.  -f-  verbal  root,  as  drpLylr,  d<^avr}<;. 

III.  Mutata  (so-called  possessives). 

/.  a-priv.  +  noun,    with    or    without    new    adjectivising 
suffix,  as  d6vao<;,  dvai^wv,  d6€fi[aTto<i. 

IV.  Derivatives. 

g.  Negative  compound  +  adjective,  noun,  or  verbal  root, 

as  d8afiavT07reSi\.o<;,  dSiKOTrpayrjii. 
h.  Nouns,  as  depyia,  mostly  abstract. 
i.  Adjectives,  as  depyrjXo^. 
k.    Adverbs  (except   those  regularly  formed   in   -oo<i),  as 

deKrjTi. 
I.  Verbs,  as  dBvvaTeo). 

For  the  basis  of  this  classification  see  L.  Schroeder,  Ueber  die 
Formelle  Unterscheidung  der  Redetheile,  pp.  x,  203,  287.  All 
the  true  negative  compounds  belong  to  class  II  in  the  classification 
of  Greek  compounds  given  by  Brugmann,  Gr.  Gram.^  §§  153, 159. 

In  practice  it  is  often  impossible  to  discriminate  between  the 
compounds  of  groups  e  and/,  and  occasionally  of  group  a.  Take 
for  example  dl3\a/37j<; ;  one  may  doubt  whether  we  have  here  a 
mutation  from  a  noun  /3\d^7]  or  ^\d^o<;,  or  a  syntheticon  from 
the  verbal  root  appearing  in  ^XdirTco.  In  many  cases  neither  the 
meaning  nor  the  presence  or  absence  of  a  suitable  noun  which 
may  have  entered  into  composition  is  decisive.  In  many  of  the 
early  examples  the  formation  is  quite  obscure.  Often  in  late 
Greek,  as  in  other  phenomena  of  the  period,  the  formations  seem 
to  be  made  on  the  analogy  of  established  types,  so  that  it  is  no 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  17 

longer  possible  to  define  precisely  the  separate  elements  of  the 
compound.  The  ancients  were  more  inclined  than  later  and 
modern  grammarians  to  look  upon  the  second  members  of  com- 
pounds as  verbal ;  see  Zacher,  Breslauer  Philologische  Abhand- 
lungen,  i,  pp.  10  ff.,  48-61.  So  the  Homeric  lexicon  of  Apollonius 
explains  aSe^;?  by  ov  SeSio)<;,  while  the  Et.  Mag.  gives :  d8ei<; 
d(f)o^ov  (iTTo  Tov  Seo9.  Cf.  too  the  frequent  pairs  of  doublets  like 
d<f>0ovo<;,  cKfidovrjTCi,  et.  al. 

Outside  of  the  dithyrambic  and  comic  poets  the  moderation 
of  the  Greek  is  shown  in  the  general  limitation  of  the  compounds 
to  two  parts.  But  while  the  compounds  are  generally  bi-membral, 
occasionally  one  of  the  members  is  itself  a  compound  ;  so  as  early 
as  Homer  we  find  dvnrro-'jroSe';,  d-'TrpoTi^iaara,  then  dv-eTrl-^eaTa 
(Hes.),  diSpo-BiKr)^,  dSa/xavTO-'jTeScko'i  (Find.),  dKa/j,avT0-p6a<; 
(Bacchyl.),  etc. 


IV.     LIMITATIONS  ON  THE  USE   OF   THE 
PREFIX   IN   COMPOSITION. 

The  true  sphere  of  the  negative  prefix  is  its  combination  with 
nouns,  adjectives  and  verbal  stems  to  form  adjective  compounds. 
The  nouns  and  verbs  with  a-privative  are  in  general  not  com- 
pounds at  all,  but  are  derivatives  from  compound  adjectives. 
The  prefix  can  never  properly  be  combined  with  a  verb  to  form 
a  negative  verb,  nor  with  a  pronoun  or  pronominal  word  to  form 
an  indefinite  pronoun.  In  this  respect  the  pro-ethnic  speech 
seems  to  have  kept  quite  distinct  the  prefix  and  the  independent 
adverbs  ne,  ne,  etc.  The  former  was  used  only  before  nouns, 
including  adjectives,  participles  and  infinitives,  the  latter  with 
verbs  and  also  with  pronouns  to  form  the  negative  indefinites. 
The  negative  adverbs  never  became  productively  used  as  prefixes 
except  in  the  Balto-Slavic,  where  for  example  Lithuanian  n^ 
(I-E.  ne)  quite  usurped  the  place  of  the  original  negative  prefix. 
But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  n^  in  Lithuanian,  having  become  a 
true  negative  prefix,  is  not  used  to  form  negative  indefinite  pro- 
nouns and  adverbs.  So  in  Greek,  which  has  lost  I-E.  ne  as  a 
negative  adverb,  the  independent  adverbs  ov  and  /a?;  are  used  to 


18  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

form  indefinites,  as  ovtl^,  /jbi]Ti^,  oviroTe,  ovS€t<;  and  the  rest. 
ovTa  probably  took  the  place  of  an  I-E.  *  ne-qi-s  when  ov 
had  taken  the  place  of  I-E.  ne  (Brugmann,  op,  cit.  Eng.  trans. 
II,  pt.  I,  §  31).  In  a  negative  sentence  containing  an  indefinite 
pronoun  or  adverb  it  is  immaterial,  so  far  as  the  sense  is  concerned, 
whether  the  negative  is  taken  with  the  indefinite  or  the  verb. 
Thus  the  negative  adverb,  i.  e.  the  sentence  negative,  and  not 
the  negative  prefix,  came  to  be  used  in  this  combination,  which 
got  to  be  felt  and  used  as  a  compound,  favored  no  doubt  by 
the  fact  that  the  accentless  indefinite  was  attracted  by  the  strongly 
accented  negative.     Cf.  Delbriick,  Vgl.  Synt.  ii,  p.  524. 

Rare  and  decidedly  irregular  are  the  instances  in  Sanskrit  of 
the  use  of  the  negative  prefix  with  demonstratives,  as  in  a-sas 
and  an-esas. 

The  infinitives  and  participles  being  nominal  in  their  origin 
must  at  first  have  taken  the  negative  prefix  and  not  the  negative 
adverb ;  cf.  in  Greek  forms  like  aeKwv,  aeKa^ofxevo^,  aek7rreovTe<i, 
a(f)poveovTe<;,  avdpfi€vo<;,  ari^cov,  avofjLoXoyovfievo^;,  aSdfia<;.  Knauer, 
K.  Z,  xxvii,  p.  19,  cites  numerous  examples  of  the  composi- 
tion of  the  Sanskrit  participles  belonging  to  the  tense  systems 
with  a(n).  In  the  Rigveda  na  is  not  found  with  participles  and 
perhaps  not  in  Sanskrit  prose  (Delbriick,  Vgl.  Synt.  ii,  p.  529). 
There  are  a  goodly  number  of  examples  of  combinations  of  the 
present  participle  in  Gothic  with  un-  and  in  Latin  with  in-.  But 
in  general  the  composition  with  the  negative  prefix  declines  when 
the  participle,  as  in  Greek,  becomes  more  closely  attached  to  the 
verb  and  assumes  more  of  verbal  and  less  of  adjectival  character. 
The  participles  ordinarily  included  in  the  verbal  paradigm  are 
rarely,  indeed  only  exceptionally,  thus  combined ;  the  forms 
mentioned  above,  deKwv,  etc.,  have  all  more  or  less  of  the 
adjectival  character  which  seems  to  have  belonged  of  old  to 
the  participle  and  is  especially  seen  where  the  participle  enters 
into  composition  ;  cf.  proper  names  like  FjvpvfieScdv,  F^veXOfov, 
Tlo\v(T7Tep')(a>V'  By  their  side  are  found  ovk  eOeXwv  et  al.;  dwrre- 
(TTaXfjievo)';  is  late.  It  is  not  surprising  then  to  observe  that 
even  as  early  as  Homer  the  use  of  the  negative  adverb  ov  with 
the  participle  is  already  well  established  (Monro,  H.  G.,  §  360), 
although  it  is  certainly  not  so  freely  combined  with  the  participle 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  19 

in  Homer  as  in  later  Greek.  The  second  parts  of  the  compounds 
ABdij,a<i,  aKdfxa<i,  though  no  longer  independently  existing,  have 
lost  their  participial  character  and  are  practically  adjectives ;  so 
ata-Twp,  aKpdroop.  Only  with  the  participle  in  -to<}  is  the  com- 
bination with  the  negative  prefix  at  all  productive,  but  the  verbals 
in  -To<;  are  not  generally  formed  on  a  special  tense-stem,  are  not 
reckoned  as  a  part  of  the  verbal  paradigm  and  are  often  merely 
adjectives  expressing  fitness  or  capacity.  They  seem  even  in 
Indo-European  times  to  have  been  combined  freely  with  the 
negative  prefix,  as  they  are  in  all  the  separate  languages. 

Sanskrit,  Latin,  German  and  particularly  English  offer  many 
more  examples  than  Latin  or  Greek  of  the  combination  of  the 
negative  prefix  with  the  present  particijile,  but  in  Latin  the 
■examples  are  far  less  rare  than  in  Greek  and  it  is  in  Greek  that 
the  participle  has  come  most  to  be  used  as  a  substitute  for  a 
subordinate  finite  verb.  Cf.  Sk.  avidvdn,  Lat.  insciens,  Germ. 
unwissend,  Eng.  unknowing,  but  Gr.  ovk  elSox;. 

The  infinitive  in  Greek  has  become  too  distinctly  verbal  in  its 
nature  to  take  the  negative  prefix  ;  even  in  Sanskrit  it  seems  .to 
take  it  very  rarely  except  when  used  with  the  verb  gak,  Speijer, 
Sanskrit  Synt.  §  404.  On  the  other  hand  at  an  earlier  period, 
when  the  infinitive  was  more  distinctly  nominal  in  its  nature, 
the  aversion  of  the  language  to  combining  the  negative  prefix 
directly  with  a  noun  would  render  d-Svvao-dai  quite  as  awkward 
as  d-Svvafji,i<;. 

The  negation  of  the  finite  verb  in  Greek  by  an  a-privative  is 
to  be  looked  upon  as  an  anomaly.  Professor  Bloomfield,  J,  H.  U. 
Circ,  1882,  p.  175,  in  objecting  to  the  etymology  of  d/i^XaKelv 
given  by  Curtius  (Grundziige,  5,  p.  463)  and  adopted  by  Vani9ek, 
says,  "  The  composition  of  a-privative  with  a  simple  aorist  stem 
would  be  an  anomaly  as  great  as  a  compound  *  d-ireTrovOa, '  I  have 
not  suffered.' "     When  we  have  driei  in  Theogn.  621, 

Tra?  TC?  ifkovatov  dvSpa  r/et,  driei  Be  irevi'^^^pov, 

the  compound  is  evidently  an  artistic  })roduct  formed  for  the  sake 
of  antithesis  to  riet  preceding.  Brugmann,  Griech.  Gram.^  §  590, 
treats  drUi  as  an  extension  of  paradigm  from  uTiro^  (Hom.). 
Parallel  with  this  is  a  passage  in  Plut.  Mor.  885  A,  ware  rd  fxev 


20  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

eifidpOat  TO,  S'  dveifidpOat,,  where  Usener  with  MS.  D  reads  ra 
fiev  elfxapra  ra  8'  dvetfiapTa.  So  the  SaDskrit  dj^acasi  is  a  purely 
artificial  form.  The  Homeric  drl^cov,  II.  20,  166,  occurring  as  it 
does  in  the  participle,  if  it  is  really  a  negative  compound,  does  not 
count  here  on  account  of  the  original  nominal  character  of  the 
participle,  and  dri^oiv  is  probably  to  be  classed  with  deKu^ofMeva, 
deKcov  and  dvofio\o<yovfji€vo<;  (not  a  participle  from  a  verb  dvofio- 
Xoyovfiai,).  Later  such  a  form  might  be  expanded  into  a  verbal 
paradigm,  and  that  the  Homeric  dTt^cov  was  so  expanded  by  the 
poets,  as  the  tragedians  and  Apollonius  Rhodius,  does  not  excite 
surprise.  It  is  not  found  in  prose  until  Galen,  who  uses  dTL^6fievo<;, 
and  Greg.  Naz.,  who  uses  the  finite  verb.  Cf.  Lat.  indecet  and  in- 
juro,  probably  extensions  from  indecens  and  injuratus,  and  ignosco 
considered  by  V.  Henry  a  re-formation  from  ignotus.  So  the 
inseparable  Sva-  in  hvcrdvrjaKwv,  Eur.  El.  843,  Rhes.  791, 
BvaOavovra,  schol.  to  Luc.  Icarom.  29,  is  somewhat  legitimized 
by  being  combined  only  with  the  participle.  It  may  be,  how- 
ever, that  art^ct)  is  a  denominative  verb,  see  Froehde,  Bezz. 
Beitr.  xx,  p.  221.  On  drifxaco,  see  Brugmann,  Griech.  Gram.^, 
p.  529. 

Before  vowels  there  is  the  possibility  that  the  verb  is  a  com- 
pound of  the  preposition  dvd,  which  sometimes  denotes  a  reversal 
of  the  action  of  the  verb  and  gives  a  negative  sense.  Thus 
dvapdo/xai  means  '  to  recall  a  curse '  and  dvev^ofiai  '  to  unsay  a 
prayer.'  Cf.  Lat.  resecrare,  Germ,  widersprechen.  On  the  derivation 
of  dvaivofjuai  from  dva  -f  *  aivofjiac  (cf.  alva,  a  saying)  see  Osthoff, 
Bezz,  Beitr.  24,  199  ff.,  esp.  p.  205.  dvev^oiiai,  so  far  as  we 
know,  occurs  only  in  the  participle,  Plat.  Alcib.  ii,  142  D,  148  B, 
and  the  articular  infinitive,  Poll,  v,  130.  The  poet  in  Plat. 
Alcib.  II,  143  A,  uses  dvevKTOi<;  as  the  negative  of  ev^ofievoi,^, 
while  the  author  of  the  dialogue  himself  says,  142  d,  ev^acvTo  av 

oXtyov  Se  €7na^ovTe<;  iviore  iraXivwhovcr lv ,  dvev^o/juevoc 

arr  dv  to  TrpcoTov  ev^covrai. 

dv^So/xai  in  Hermippus,  frag,  81  M,  77  K,  was  thought  by 
Shill'eto,  Jour,  of  Philol.  vii,  159,  to  be  a  compound  of  dvd,  but  it 
seems  not  unlikely  that  it  is  an  artificial  compound  made  with  the 
privative  prefix  for  the  sake  of  antithesis  to  the  preceding  rjcrOrjv, 
and  so  parallel  to  the  examples  already  cited  from  Theognis  and 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek,  21 

Plutarch.  The  fragment  is  :  a  Toff"  rjaOrjv,  ravra  vvv  dv^Sofiac 
Comedy  is  just  the  place  for  such  a  formation,  but  it  is  not  impos- 
sible here  that  we  may  have  a  blending  of  both  the  preposition 
dvd  and  the  negative  in  these  formations. 

dvofjuoiow  is  probably  a  derivative  from  dvofioco^;,  and  dvav- 
Spoofiac  from  dvav8po<;. 

It  may  be  found  that  some  English  verbs  like  '  undo/  '  unfasten/ 
and  the  like,  may  have  been  first  formed  for  the  sake  of  opposition 
to  the  single  verbs,  as  in  the  Greek  examples  cited  above.  An 
adherescent  negative  adverb  might  have  been  felt  not  to  make  a 
close  enough  compound  and  again  not  to  give  sufficient  opposition, 
but  only  the  negation  of  the  positive  idea.  It  is  interesting  to 
note,  however,  that  the  use  of  un-  with  verbs  in  English  seems  to 
have  come  in  through  confusion  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  inseparable 
prefix  ond,  and,  on,  which  is  often  =  re-,  denoting  the  reversal  of 
an  action  and  quite  indistinguishable  from  the  negative  in  meaning. 
Cf.  Maetzner,  Euglische  Grammatik,  i,  p.  540. 

In  the  case  of  verbal  adjectives  with  initial  dv-  followed  by  a 
vowel,  as  dvd\(OTo<i,  dve^evpero^i,  some  ambiguity  might  arise 
as  to  whether  the  verbal  was  derived  from  a  simple  verb  and  then 
compounded  with  the  negative  prefix,  or  whether  it  was  formed  on 
a  verb  already  combined  with  the  preposition  dvd.  Funck  in 
Curt.  Stud.,  X,  41,  has  treated  this  subject  and  shown  that  in 
Greek  the  external  ambiguity  of  the  words  was  hardly  felt,  for  the 
'  language  never  employed  the  same  word  at  the  same  period  in 
both  the  different  senses. 

For  the  ambiguity  in  Latin  between  the  prefix  in-  and  the 
preposition  in-,  as  in  invisus  inauratus,  see  F.  Vogel,  Archiv.  f. 
Lat.  Lex.  u.  Gram.,  iv,  p.  321.  Cf.  inclinatus,  bent,  Juv.  15,  63, 
but  indeclinatus,  unswerving,  Ov.  Epp.  ex  Ponto,  4,  10,  83,  Yet 
when  Wolfflin,  ibid.,  p.  400,  says  that  in-privatum  does  not  appear 
before  verbs  on  account  of  liability  to  confusion  with  the  preposi- 
tion in,  he  hardly  gives  the  fundamental  reason,  for  the  absence  of 
■composition  of  verb  with  the  privative  syllable  was  most  certainly 
Indo-European. 

The  negative  adverb  may  sometimes  form  a  quasi  compound 

with  the  verb  making  the  combination  so  close  that  the,  negative 

is  rarely  displaced  from  its  position  immediately  befcrfe  the  verl> 
2  (    UNP'- 


22  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

and  that  the  negative  ov  is  retained  even  in  cases  where  fxrj  would 
be  required  by  ordinary  usage.  In  these  cases  the  particle  usually 
does  something  more  than  merely  negative  the  meaning  of  the 
simple  verb,  and  the  combination  expresses  an  opposite  rather 
than  a  negative  solely.  Examples  are:  ov  (J^tj/lll,  '1  deny/ 
ovK  io),  '  I  forbid/  ovk  ideXco,  '  I  am  unwilling/  ovk  eiraivoy,  '  I 
disapprove.'  Cf.  Lat.  nescio — from  which  probably  nescius — 
nequeo,  neclego.  In  ovk  akiyo)  we  probably  see  more  nearly  a 
merely  negative  combination. 

In  most  of  these  cases  the  verb  is  one  of  saying  or  thinking  and 
often  one  which  wonld  naturally  be  followed  by  the  infinitive,  so 
that  the  adheresceuce  of  the  negative  to  the  verb  seems  in  part  at 
least  due  to  the  reluctance  of  the  early  language  to  combine  the 
negative  adverb  with  the  infinitive. 

The  necessity  for  forming  such  quasi  compounds  of  the  verb,, 
which  might  at  first  thought  seem  to  be  far-reaching,  was  largely 
relieved  by  the  capacity  of  the  language  for  forming  denomina- 
tive verbs  from  negative  adjective  compounds,  as  dyjrevBetv  from 
a-\|reu8779,  and  to  some  extent  also  by  the  fact  that  several  of  the 
prepositions  practically  reversed  the  meaning  of  the  verb  with 
which  they  were  combined.  Cf.  for  such  a  use  of  dvd,  dvapdofxac, 
etc.,  already  cited.  This  reversing  force  of  dvd  is  very  natural 
with  a  verb  which  denotes  downward  motion,  e.  g.,  epeiirw,  throw 
down,  dv7)peL-\lrdfi7}v,  snatched  up ;  /jlvco,  close  (lower)  the  eyelids, 
dva/xvco,  open  the  eyes  ;  see  Lobeck,  Rhematikon,  p.  43.  For  dira 
cf.  direcrO'ieiv  =  fxr]  iaBleiv,  Theopomp.  Com.  Mein.,  ii,  p.  813,  fr. 
62  K.  Somewhat  similar  are  diroa-LTeiv,  diroKriheiv,  diroirapOe- 
vevea-dai  which  Meineke  cites  ;  also  dTroKaXvirrfo,  uncover,, 
d-TravBdo),  forbid,  and  cf.  especially  dcfjavSavco,  Soph.  Ant.  501 . 
With  Btd  we  have  Bia^evyvvfjiat,  to  be  disjoined,  cf.  Halsey,  Proc. 
Am.  Philol.  Assn.,  1888,  p.  xxiv. 

The  statement  already  made,  that  the  sphere  of  direct  combina- 
tion of  the  privative  syllable  in  Greek  is  its  union  with  noun,, 
adjective  and  verbal  stem  to  form  adjectives,  contains  the  important 
limitation  that  the  prefix  is  only  irregularly  and  exceptionally  com- 
bined with  nouns  to  form  nouns.  This  limitation  holds  also  in 
general  for  Latin  of  the  best  period,  but  not  for  Sanskrit,  Englisb 
or  German.     The  privative  syllable  will,  as  a  rule,  be  found  before 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  23 

nouns  in  Greek  only  in  mutata  ;  in  irnmutata  it  can,  generally 
speaking,  be  combined  only  with  the  adjective.  We  find  in  Lid- 
dell  and  Scott  only  16  probable  irnmutata  with  nouns. 

Such  immutata  of  a-privative  -(-  noun  as  do  occur  are  plainly 
exceptional  and  irregular  artificial  formations,  mostly  poetic  or 
late.  Hesiod  has  dScorrj^,  Op.  355,  and  dj3ovT7]<;,  ibid.,  451  ;  vv. 
354-5  are : 

Kal  ho[xev  o?  Kev  Sm,  koX  fxrj  Sofiev   o?  k€v  jxrj  8c3. 
hoiTr]  fiev  Tt<f  eSojKev,  dScoTj]  S'  ovrcs  eScoKC. 

Here  Scorrj^;  and  dS(OTi]<;  are  both  evidently  formed  for  the 
antithesis  and  so  are  hardly  amenable  to  the  ordinary  laws 
of  formation.  In  Op.  451,  KpaSiTjv  S'  eSuK  dvSpo'i  d^ovTeoo, 
d^ovT7]<;  is  plainly  the  negative  of  ySour?/?,  '  herdsman ; '  the 
latter,  however,  does  not  occur  in  Hesiod,  but  is  found  in 
Aeschylus  and  later.  To  one  who  had  already  just  said  dScoTTjf; 
in  antithesis  to  Scott;?,  it  would  not  seem  so  bold  to  say  d^ovT7]<i 
even  if  no  form  /3ovT7]<i  was  actually  present,  though  ^ovrrj^i  was 
probably  then  in  use.  But  d/3ovTr]<;  here  may  have  been  felt  as  an 
adjective ;  cf.  Eur.  Hipp.  537  (lyric),  /Sovrav  (})6vov.  Lobeck, 
Path.  Gr.  Serm.,  i,  p.  213,  makes  it=  ^d/3ovq  lengthened  by  addi- 
tion of  suffix  -TT}-. 

In  Arist.  Phys.,  i,  8,  3,  and  perhaps  in  Hippocrates  is  found 
dviaTpa  =  a  non-physician,  quack,  in  opposition  to  laTpo'i,^  and 
in  Plut.  Lye,  x,  a7r\ovTo<;,  poverty,  in  opposition  to  ttXoOto"?. 

Pollux,  III,  58,  censure  three  words  used  by  Theopompus  : 
Tra/jbTTOi'Tjpot,  Se  ol  @eo7ro/x7rov  roy  auyjpa(})e(o^  dTToXlrcu,  Kal 
d(f)6Taipot,  Kal  diraOrivaloi.  But  as  the  latter  two  words  are 
formed  with  the  preposition  diro,  this  may  have  been  the  feeling 
also  in  the  case  of  diroXlrai,  without  the  necessity  of  assuming  a 
haplology  for  ^dTro-TroXcTai. 

Priscian,  Keil,  ill,  211,  uses  two  grammatical  terms,  av/x^afia 
and  davfi^a/jia,  which  he  ascribes  to  the  Stoics  and  which  he 
renders  by  covgruitas  and  incongruitas. 

Other  examples  are  :  dhcKaiap'xp';  Cic,  formed  for  the  sake  of  a 

1  But  6  1X7)  larpSs,  Plat.  Gorg.  459  B ;  cf.  Sudhaus,  Philodemiis,  li,  6,  rwy 
fjLi)  l)y]r6p())V. 


24  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

pun,  ava^ia  Zeno  ap.  Diog.  L.,  a'n-eL6ap')(^ia  Antiphon  ap.  An. 
Bek.  78,  a7r\7]po(j)opLa  Byz.,  airpoahoKla  Def.  Plat.,  appoia  and 
axp^t-a  Hippocr.,  and  probably  the  Attic  aa-rparela. 

In  Hippocrates,  379,  17  (Foes.),  iii,  496  (Erm.),  the  authority 
of  the  MSS.  is  for  rf  avapio-Trjaei  {dv-apia-Trjcri^),  but  Ermerins 
now  reads  tt}  dvapio-Tij). 

There  is  another  group  of  compounds,  sometimes  referred  to 
this  class,  which  are  artificial  formations  and  are  distinctly  poetic 
and  figurative  in  their  use.  This  group  comprises  the  compounds 
which  appear  in  the  not  infrequent  poetic  expressions  of  the  type, 
'I/jo?  "Ai'/oo?,  Od.  18,  73,  TratSe?  ctTratSe^,  Aesch.  Eum.  1034  et  al. 
These  formations  seem  undoubtedly  to  belong  to  the  mutata  and 
will  be  best  discussed  under  the  head  of  style. 

W5efflin,  Archiv,  iv,  400  ff.,  has  taken  up  the  subject  of 
'Substantiva  mit  in-privatum'  in  Latin.  He  finds  that  such 
formations  are  almost  entirely  absent  from  Latin  of  the  Golden 
and  Silver  Ages.  From  archaic  Latin  are  cited  only  intemperies, 
insoiietas,  ingratiis,  iniussu  and  irreligio.  The  later  more  pro- 
ductive employment  of  such  compounds,  e.  g.,  involuntas  et  al., 
is  confined  almost  exclusively  to  ecclesiastical  and  late  Latin,  is 
characteristic  of  the  Africitas  beginning  with  Tertullian,  and 
arises  in  part  from  the  license  of  vulgar  speech  and  in  part  from 
the  exigencies  of  translation  from  the  Greek. 

In  English  a  few  words  of  the  type,  unbelief,  undress,  unrest, 
are  in  use,  but  they  are  not  to  be  coined  at  will,  while  in  German 
the  type  is  quite  productive,  nouns  like  Unmuth,  Ungeduld,  being 
rather  numerous. 

Even  in  Sanskrit,  where  compounds  like  adeva,  non-god,  akirti, 
non-fame,  disgrace,  are  very  common,  the  mutata  of  a-privative  + 
noun  seem  relatively  more  frequent.  In  the  immutata  of  this 
type  most  often  the  second  member  seems  to  be  an  abstract  noun. 
Cf.  Delbriick,  Vgl.  Synt.,  ii,  p.  530. 

Outside  of  the  strictly  bi-membral  divisions  which  characterize 
philosophical  thought  and  which  give  rise  to  expressions  like  the 
Aristotelian  to  ovk  dv6po)7ro<;,  Interp.,  x,  1,  the  need  of  a  definite 
compound  to  express  the  conception  of  negation  of  a  concrete 
noun  is  not  very  great  and  the  requirements  of  expression  are 
more  easily  satisfied  by  the  less  permanent  combinations  of  rela- 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  25 

tive  and  participial  periphrases.  Often  there  is  an  opposing 
positive  term,  as  ^evo<;,  opposed  to  7roX,tT.7;<?,  or  as  t'StaJr?;?  is 
opposed  to  any  professional  designation,  such  as  larpo^,  dp^fov,  etc. 

With  abstract  terms,  however,  the  case  is  different  and  one 
naturally  stops  to  inquire  how  the  Greek  expressed  the  negative 
of  terms  like  Slkt],  ^o/3o<?,  etc.  A  little  examination  will  show 
that  these  negative  abstracts  are  most  often  derivatives  from  nega- 
tive mutata,  so  that  we  liave  8if<r],  aScKa,  aSiKta  ;  (f)6^o^,  a^o^o';, 
a<^o^la,  giving  us  the  pairs,  hiKri,  aSiKca,  (f)6^o<;,  a(^o^ia.  When 
once  the  type  is  established,  the  intermediate  mutatum  may  be 
dispensed  with  and  we  may  have  aBwafMia  (Hdt.)  opposed  to 
SvvaiJit<;,  though  ahvvafjboq  is  not  found  till  Dioscorides. 

With  ordinary  adjectives  (excluding  verbals  in  -To<i)  the  combi- 
nation of  the  negative  prefix  is  by  no  means  free  and  generally 
productive,  but  on  the  contrary  the  number  of  direct  combinations 
of  a-privative  +  adjective  seem  on  examination  to  be  surprisingly 
small,  especially  in  the  earliest  period. 

Many  undoubtedly  old  adjectives  do  not  make  any  negative 
compounds  at  all,  but  have  their  opposites  expressed  by  positive 
words,  e.  g.,  ixe<ya'i,  fMiKpo^ ;  a<ya66<i,  KaKo<;  ;  iu,€\a<i,  Xei//co9  ; 
^apv<i,  Kov(fiO<i  ;  /jbaKp6<i,  ^paj(y<;  ;  evpv<^,  arevof;  ;  Kadapo<;,  /xiapci. 
So  generally  with  adjectives  expressing  merely  physical  qualities ; 
thus  none  of  the  adjectives  in  the  list  just  given  makes  a  negative 
compound  except  /ca/co9,  which  has  not  generally  a  physical  sense. 
In  the  case  of  many  such  words  no  necessity  for  a  negative  com- 
pound was  ever  felt.  We  have  no  *d/jid\aKO(;  or  ^d-y^oXeTro^ 
{a')(aXe'Tr(x)<;  in  Math,  Vett.),  no  *dfxiKpo<i  or  ^dfxeya^  {d/jLe'ye9i]<i 
Aristotle).  '^d-\lrvxpo<;  and  "^dvuypo^;  are  not  found,  and  ciOepfioq 
is  perhaps  a  drra^  elprj/xevov,  used  as  an  abstract,  to  dOepfxov, 
Plat.  Phaedo,  106  a.  Lobeck,  Path.  Gr.  Serm.,  p.  213,  states 
that  negatives  are  not  found  from  adjectives  of  the  second  declen- 
sion denoting  color  or  taste ;  aVt/cpo?,  however,  does  occur  in 
Aristotle. 

But  this  reluctance  of  the  language  to  combine  a-privative  with 
an  adjective  is  by  no  means  limited  to  words  of  any  particular 
semasiological  category,  and,  though  the  number  of  such  com- 
pounds is  substantially  increased  in  the  later  language,  this  type 
■was  never  a  favorite  form  of  composition.     Examples  like  ai8pt<;, 


26  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

avaiTio<;  by  the  side  of  I'Spt?,  aiTio<i  are  few  in  Homer,  not  more 
than  10,  and  some  of  these  are  uncertain. 

When  we  deduct  from  the  total  number  of  words  containing 
the  negative  prefix  the  compounds  formed  from  the  verbals  in 
-T09,  the  mntata,  the  derivative  nouns  and  verbs,  and  a  few  other 
types  of  formation,  the  proportion  of  the  whole  consisting  of 
combinations  of  a-privative  +  adjective,  especially  in  the  best 
period,  is  small. 

Thus  many  derivative  adjectives  find  their  opposites  in  a  nega- 
tive possessive  compound,  or  rautatum.  Just  as  the  opposite  of 
BiKT]  is  not  *a-hiK7],  but  ahuKla,  so  the  opposite  of  BLKato<;  is  not 
^a-hiKaLo<i,  but  dSiKo^.  Hence  there  is  a  larg6  number  of  such 
groups  of  derivative  words  related  to  an  abstract  primitive,  e.  g., 

Slkt}  :  SiKaiot;  =  ahtKia  :  aSiKO<i, 

(po/So^  :  (f>o/3epo<;  =  a(f)o/3La  :  a(f)ol3o<;, 

/cocr/1.09  :  KocrfiLO<;  =  aKocrixia  :  aKO(nxo<i.      Cf.  pp.  25,  31. 

Valckenaer  on  Eur.  Phoen.  397,  denied  the  formation  of  de- 
rivative verbs  from  compounds  of  a-privative  +  a  dissyllabic 
adjective  of  the  second  declension  except  verbals  in  -ro<i.  But,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  number  of  such  compound  adjectives  is  at  any 
rate  very  limited,  and  Shilleto,  Tr.  Gamb.  Philol.  Soc.  1876, 
p.  74,  added  dSrjXelv  to  the  avvacroc^elv  of  Eur.,  1.  c. 

The  cacophony  in  the  repetition  of  the  syllable  av  may  account 
for  the  absence  of  some  compounds  of  ay-privative  and  a  word 
beginning  with  av-.  Thus  from  Greek  of  the  best  period,  out- 
side of  Hippocrates,  we  have  only  avavhpo<;,  avavBpia  Aesch., 
avdvSpcoTO^  Soph.,  dvavdr)<;  Plato,  dvavrajcovicrTO^  Thuc.  *^dv- 
avajKata  is  not  found,  nor  any  compound  of  the  negative  prefix 
with  av6p(07ro<;  or  its  derivatives  ;  and  note  ovk  dveKT6<;,  which  is 
very  frequent.  Later  Greek  was  not  so  fastidious,  so  in  Cicero's 
epistles  we  find  :  dvavTiXeKro<i,  dvavrL(f)a>vr]TO<i,  dvavT K^oovqala  ; 
the  latter  two  are  not  found  elsewhere. 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  27 


y.    FAVORITE  TYPES  OF  NEGATIVE 
COMPOUNDS. 

The  favorite  Greek  types  of  compound  with  the  negative  prefix 
are  those  with  the  verbals  in  -To<i  and  the  mutata  made  up  of 
prefix  +  noun.  Both  of  these  types  were  Indo-European  and 
were  apparently  the  most  common  types  in  the  pro-ethnic  speech 
also. 

The  compound  with  the  verbal  in  -to<;  is  the  most  productive 
of  all  the  types  in  Greek  as  in  the  other  languages  of  the  family. 
This  is  doubtless  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  susceptible  of  so 
many  variations  in  meaning.  Thus  the  words  which  compose  this 
group  are  not  simply  past  participles  but  they  are  also  very  often 
modal  verbal  adjectives  negativing  the  idea  of  fitness  or  possi- 
bility, and  hence  are  no  longer  past  in  signification.  This  modal 
use  is  Indo-European  and  it  is  in  combination  with  the  negative 
that  the  verbal  seems  first  to  have  acquired  a  modal  sense;  whence 
the  usage  became  extended,  particularly  in  Greek,  to  the  simple 
forms.  Again  these  verbal  compounds  may  be  active,  passive,  or 
neuter.  Indeed  the  fundamental  signification  of  the  verbal  itself 
seems  to  have  been  only  the  predication  of  a  verbal  action  as  in 
some  way  a  quality  or  characteristic  of  the  subject.  Cf.  Bishop, 
A.  J.  P.,  XIII,  191  ;  Brugraann,  I.  G.  Forsch.,  v,  93.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  such  a  convenient  type  of  formation  should  have 
become  so  largely  productive.  A  Greek  negative  compound  with 
the  verbal  may  often  be  rendered  variously  into  Latin,  especially 
by  a  compound  of  in-  with  a  participle  in  -ns,  -tus,  or  -ndus,  or  by 
an  adjective  in  -bills,  e.  g.,  airpaKTO';  by  injioiens  or  infeclus, 
arrLcno^  by  ineredibilis,  incredidus,  and  (late)  inoredundus,  inci'edi- 
tus.  Noteworthy  is  the  large  number  of  Latin  negative  compounds 
ending  in  -bilis. 

Often  the  negative  compound  with  the  verbal  is  equivalent  in 
meaning  to  a  niutatum  of  a-privative  +  noun.  Thus,  aTrypwro? 
(TrvpoQ))  II.  23,  270  =  dirvpci,  ibid.,  267  ;  a(f)d6v7}TO'i  [(pdoveco)  == 
a(j)6ovo<;,  both  in  active  (Pind.  Ol.  13,  25)  and  passive  sense  (ibid., 


28  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

10,  7);  dvavSrjTO^  (^avSdco)  =  dvavSo<;  ;  dTdpaKTO<;  (rapdcraoo)  = 
drdpa'xo'^.  Sometimes,  however,  no  intermediate  verb  from  which 
the  verbal  may  be  derived  seems  to  exist,  so  that  the  verbal  is  in 
effect,  though  not  in  form,  a  sort  of  denominative  participle,  e.  g., 
aTreStXo?,  Aesch.  Prom.  135  =  aTreS/Xfyro?,  Callim,,  VI,  125,  but 
there  is  no  verb  "^irehCKow  ;  so  d7rvv8dKa>To<;  {trvvha^),  Soph.  frag. 
554  =  dirvOjjbevo^,  Hesych.  =  aTrvOficov,  Theognost.  =  d7rv6/j,e- 
vLCTTOf,  Eustath.  See  Schneider  on  Callim.,  Hymn  in,  213.  The 
above  are  not  to  be  confused  with  adjectives  which  are  formally 
denominative,  and  in  which  the  suffix  -to-  is  appended  immedi- 
ately to  a  nominal  stem,  as  in  dyepaa-roq  from  <yepa<?.  They  are 
to  be  distinguished  too  from  verbals  derived  from  denominative 
verbs,  which  latter  are  in  turn  derivatives  from  true  negative 
compounds.  Thus  d\6yrjTo<i  from  dXoyeo),  but  dXcyeco  from 
aXoyci. 

The  other  very  frequent  type  of  negative  compound  in  Greek 
is  that  of  the  mutata  of  a-privative  +  noun,  the  so-called  posses- 
sives.  In  its  origin  this  type  seems  not  to  have  been  a  true 
compound  at  all,  but  a  derivative  adjective  made  by  giving  to  an 
immutatum  that  variation  according  to  gender  which  characterizes 
an  adjective.  But  the  formation  is  a  very  old  one  and  inde- 
pendently productive,  so  that  for  very  few  of  the  existing  mutata 
can  underlying  immutata  be  cited.  The  fact  that  compounds 
whose  second  member  is  a  substantive  in  -09  or  -ov  do  not  regu- 
larly make  a  special  form  for  the  feminine  is  significant.  The 
type  is  perhaps  older  than  the  use  of  the  d-forms  to  denote  the 
feminine  gender,  and  later  forms  like  dre'xvo'i,  -ov,  from  rexvrj 
may  be  explained  as  made  on  the  analogy  of  the  pre-established 
type;  see  Brugmann,  K.  Z.  24,  39  ff.,  Wheeler,  Trans.  Am. 
Philol.  Assn.  30,  xxi  ff. 

This  type  of  negative  compound  is  well  represented  in  Greek 
and  Sanskrit,  is  not  very  common  in  Latin  (cf.  iners,  inops,  et  al.) 
and  is  foreign  to  German  and  English.  On  the  other  hand  in 
the  last  two  languages,  as  already  remarked,  the  immutata  are  not 
at  all  uncommon. 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  29 


VI.    EXPRESSIONS  WHICH   MAY   REPLACE   THE 
NEGATIVE   COMPOUNDS. 

The  negative  compound  may  be  replaced  by  a  complex  with  a 
negative  adverb  or  by  other  forms  of  expression  which,  though 
not  negative  in  form,  are  so  or  nearly  so  in  effect. 

The  negative  of  the  sentence  and  of  the  verb  may  in  various 
ways  become  extended  in  its  use  to  other  parts  of  speech — the 
so-called  ou-privative,  Thompson,  Gr.  Synt.,  §§  280-1.  First, 
the  close  and  constant  combination  of  the  negative  adverb  with 
the  verb  may  persist  with  other  words,  particularly  participles, 
which  are  derivatives  from  the  verbal  root  or  stem.  Thus  we 
have  an  old  Greek  compound,  OvKuXeymv,  to  be  connected  with 
the  fact  that  the  verb  dXeyw  is  used  in  Homer  most  often  with  a 
negative.  Other  illustrations  are  ovk  eOeXwv,  ov  ^(a'ipwv,  ovk  i(ov, 
to  be  referred  to  the  close  association  of  negative  and  verb  in  ovk 
ideXo),  ov  'xciiprj(T€t„  ovk  ew,  and  also  of  course  to  the  intimate 
connection  of  the  participle  with  the  verbal  paradigm.  One  may 
compare  Latin  nescius  for  inscius  by  the  side  of  nescio. 

Secondly,  by  confusion  or  displacement  of  the  negative  relations 
in  the  sentence  from  which  a  nexus  of  the  negative  and  noun, 
adjective,  or  adverb  might  result.  Peculiar  conditions  of  emphasis 
and  metre  often  bring  the  negative  into  a  position  in  the  sentence 
which  seems  very  arbitrary ;  so  the  position  of  the  negative  in  the 
poets,  especially  Pindar,  is  apparently  very  free.  In  sentences 
where  the  predicate  is  in  the  form  of  a  noun  or  adjective  with 
the  sentence  negative,  especially  where  either  the  necessity  for 
a  copula  is  not  felt  or  the  substantive  verb  is  only  a  copula, 
a  sort  of  adherescence  may  take  place ;  cf.  cases  like  ovk  ayaOov 
Trep  iovra,  II.  9,  637,  ovS'  akiov  eiro'^  eao-erat,  II.  24,  92 
(so  often  with  oti;;^  a\io^,  a  common  litotes  in  Homer) ;  also 
OVK  €pavo<;  rciSe  yecTTiv,  Od.  1,  226.  ,  The  Latin  well  exemplifies 
the  working  of  such  a  process  in  nefas  and  nimirum.  Nefas  proba- 
bly started  in  the  sentence,  nefas  (est),  at  a  period  when  ne  had  not 
yet  given  place  to  nan  as  the  sentence  negative  in  Latin  ;  cf.  the 
common  use  of  fas  est  and  the  frequency  of  nefas  and  nimirum  as 


30  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

parenthetical  exclamations.  Ne/astus,  nefandus,  nefarius  are  of 
course  deriv^atives.  Again  such  confusion  or  displacement  of  the 
negative  might  occur  in  other  relations  within  the  sentence,  as  in 
the  case  of  an  object,  or  an  adjective,  or  an  adverbial  modifier. 
Note  expressions  like  ovk  dirocpcoXta  €lSco<i,  Od.  5,  182,  6S'  ov^ 
aXiov  /3e\o<?  rJKev,  II.  15,  575,  aij  S'  ov  Kara  /juolpav  eeiTre?,  Od.  2, 
251,  ov  Koa-fio)  irapa  vav(f)iv  iXevaofMed'  avra  KeXevOa,  II.  12,  225; 
so  ov  Kara  Kocrfxov,  II.  2,  214,  and  frequently.  Note  the  Sanskrit 
adverbs  naciram  and  mdcirani,  and  cf.  Whitney,  Gram.  1122  e. 

Such  an  extension  of  the  use  of  the  negative  originally  belong- 
ing to  the  sentence  or  to  the  verb  to  combinations  with  parts  of 
speech  other  than  the  verb  is  probably  inevitable  in  any  language 
and,  as  we  have  seen  (p.  17)  is  regular  in  the  case  of  the  indefinite 
pronouns.  But  some  of  these  uses  of  the  negative  adverb  with 
parts  of  speech  other  than  the  verb  may  date  back  to  the  period 
when  the  negative  adverb  and  the  negative  prefix  were  as  yet 
undifiPerentiated.  Various  conditions,  however,  must  have  oper- 
ated to  make  this  use  of  the  negative  adverbs  a  part  of  the 
language's  ordinary  means  of  expression.  Such  a  combination 
was  less  permanent  and  more  readily  produced  than  a  compound 
with  the  negative  prefix  and  would  often  be  used  where  no  corre- 
sponding compound  with  the  prefix  was  in  familiar  use  or,  if  it 
was,  could  not  be  used  in  certain  metres,  e.  g.,  avcovofiao-TOf, 
which  appears  first  in  Euripides  and  which  was  barred  from  the 
hexameter,  is  represented  in  Homer  and  Hesiod  by  ovk  ovofiacrTOf;. 
So  doubtless  melri  causa,  ov  Oefjua-rov,  Aesch.  Sept.  694,  is  used  = 
aOefxicrrov.  Then  for  various  reasons  most  adjectives  never 
formed  compounds  with  the  negative  prefix ;  e.  g.,  *dv-d7rapvo<i, 
*dv-avdyKaio^,  ^d-Kd0apo<;  seem  not  to  have  existed.  Hence  we 
must  have  in  Antiphon,  1,  9,  ovk  ovcrav  dirapvov  ;  5,  11,  rol'^  /xr] 
Ka6apoL<i  ;  Xen.  Rep.  Lac.  5,  4,  rd<^  ovk  dva'yKala'^  Troaea.  In 
general  the  compounds  combining  directly  the  negative  prefix  and 
the  adjective,  being  not  at  all  numerous  in  Greek,  must  be  to 
some  extent  replaced  by  the  combination  of  negative  adverb  and 
adjective,  especially  where  no  positive  of  precisely  opposite  signifi- 
cation was  in  use.  Sometimes  the  combination  {7rapd6eai<i)  of 
negative  adverb  and  adjective  is  so  close  as  to  be  almost  equal 
to  composition   {a-vvOea-is:).     In  such  cases  ov   may  be  retained 


The  Negative  Comfpounds  in  Greek.  31 

where  the  generic  /a?)  would  be  expected,  aud  thus  we  may  explain 
some,  though  of  course  not  all,  of  the  cases  like  rov<;  ov')(^  olou<;  re 
ovra^,  Lys.  20,  19  =  Tov<i  a8vvdTov<i  ovtw;  ;  tov<;  ov-^  ofJiO(^v\ov^, 
Just.  Mar.  Apol.  1,  14;  rov  ovk  opdco^  'x^poifievov,  Plat.  Gorg. 
457  c. 

The  participle,  showing  its  close  connection  with  the  verbal 
system,  regularly  takes  the  negative  of  the  verb  even  when  the 
participle  has  almost  a  purely  adjectival  sense,  e.  g.,  ov  irpoarjKwv, 
as  in  Antiphou,  tetral.  V,  a,  3 ;  Or.  v,  2.  The  readiness  with 
which  occasional  complexes  of  negative  adverb  and  participle 
could  be  formed  may  account  in  part  at  least  for  the  reluctance 
of  the  language  to  form  compounds  of  negative  prefix  +  adjective, 
cf.  p.  25.  Cf.  Prof  Giklersleeve,  A.  J.  P.,  ix,  139,  n.  3,  end. 
The  rarity  of  the  compounding  of  the  negative  prefix  with  parti- 
ciples belonging  to  the  tense  systems  is  noticed  elsewhere  (p.  18), 
and  the  use  of  the  sentence  negative  with  the  participle  is  a  matter 
of  course  where  the  participle  is  consciously  used  as  a  substitute 
for  the  verb  of  a  subordinate  sentence.  Yet  an  approximation  to 
a  strictly  verbal  use  of  the  participle  compounded  with  the  nega- 
tive prefix  is  seen  in  Latin  me  indieente,  me  insoiente  (abl.  abs.), 
and  a  few  others,  see  Delbriick,  Vgl.  Synt.,  ii,  529. 

The  reluctance  of  the  Greek  lansruao-e  to  form  immutata  of 
a-privative  +  noun  left  it  often  with  pressing  needs  of  expression 
which  the  use  of  the  negative  articular  infinitive,  the  formation 
of  new  abstract  derivatives,  or  the  employment  of  periphrases 
with  the  relative  or  participle  could  not  relieve.  So  we  have : 
Si  airetpoavvqv  kovk  airohei^LV,  Eur.  Hipp.  195  f.;  ev  ov  Kutpw, 
id.  Bacch.  1287;  ?;  fxr]  ^fjuTreipia,  Ar.  Eccl.  115;  t7]v  jxtj  iTTLTpoTrrjv, 
Plat.  Legg.,  XII,  966  c.  A  number  of  examples  are  found  in 
Thucydides  :  t7]v  tmv  <ye(j)vpMV  .  .  .  .  ov  SiaXvaiv,  I,  37,  4 ;  rijv 
ov  TrepLTei')(^icnv,  III,  95,  2 ;  rhv  tmv  '^^copLoov  aX\7]\oi<;  ovk 
aTToSocTLV,  V,  35,  2  ;  rrjv  ovk  e^ovcrtav  Tr]<i  aycovLaeco'i,  V,  50,  4. 
Cf.  Lat.  negotinm  =  nee  otium ;  *in-otium  was  hardly  possible. 
Cf.  p.  24.  So  even  with  concrete  nouns ;  tmv  ov')(l  Sov\a>v,  Eur. 
frag.  831 ;  tmv  fxt]  pr^ropwv,  Philodemus,  Rhet.,  ii,  6,  18  ;  Plat. 
Gorg.  459  B,  has  o  fir]  larpoi;.  Cf.  non-orator,  Quint.,  il,  15,  17. 
Some  of  these  expressions  are  due  to  the  need  of  terms  to  express 
the   negation   of  abstract   philosophical    concepts,   e.  g.,    to    ovk 


32  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

avOpoiira,  Arist.  Interp.  10,  1  ;  cf.  non-corpus,  Cic.  Ac,  i,  11,  40 
=  incorporeum  or  incorporale,  and  the  Hegelian  nicht-ich  [non-ego, 
non-moi),  nicht-sein  (ro  firj  6v,  non-tire).  Old  French  seems  to 
have  been  fairly  productive  in  these  compounds  with  non,  but 
in-  was  early  substituted  for  this,  doubtless  originally  a  literary 
reversion  to  the  Latin.  Cf.  Darrasteter,  De  la  creation  des  mots 
nouveaux  dans  la  langue  fran§aise,  p.  140.  So  in  English,  nou- 
regardance,  Shak.  Twelfth  Night,  Act.  V. 

For  expressions  like  ov  KaKovpy6<i  elfMc,  Autiphon,  v,  9,  the 
Sanskrit  might  use  a  negative  compound,  cf.  abrdhmana  =  any- 
body but  a  brahman. 

Often  too  the  combination  with  the  negative  adverb  had  to  be 
employed  to  denote  the  negation  of  a  quality  where  the  compound 
with  the  prefix  had  come  to  signify  its  opposite.  Note  the  differ- 
ence between  aKaKo<i  (Sappho  and  Aeschylus)  and  ov  kuko^;,  Ar. 
Pax.  430.  Expressions  like  the  latter  lend  themselves  readily  ta 
litotes.  In  that  form  of  litotes  in  which  an  adjective  which 
is  already  a  compound  of  the  negative  prefix  is  again  negatived, 
the  usage  of  the  language  would  tolerate  nothing  else  but  the 
negative  adverb;  so  ovk  d^pojv  6  ^elvo<i  oterai,  Od.  17,  586, 
where  ^avdcfipwp,  besides  being  unmetrical,  is  formally  impossible 
in  Greek.  There  is  no  litotes,  however,  in  ovk  akrjdri,  Antiphon, 
V,  26 ;  VI,  28,  for  aXrjdrj'i  has  really  lost  the  force  of  a  negative 
compound  and  has  come  to  be  felt  as  a  positive,  so  that  in  vi,  28, 
cited  above,  ovk  oXtjOtj  does  duty  as  a  quasi  negative  compound 
opposed  to  a  preceding  oXtjOtj.  Sanskrit  has  less  repugnance  to  a 
doubling  of  the  negative  prefix;  cf.  Whitney,  Gram.  1121,  b. 
Perhaps  we  are  to  see  a  double  negative  in  dvdeSvo<i,  where,  how- 
ever, one  prefix  does  not  nullify  the  other  (cf.  p.  15). 

Further  examples  of  the  frequent  use  of  the  negative  adverbs 
instead  of  the  prefix  are  due  to  the  tendency  of  the  sentence 
negative  to  attach  itself  to  certain  adverbs  of  time  and  certain 
conjunctions  with  which  the  negative  prefix,  belonging  as  it  does 
strictly  to  noun  formations  (including  nouns,  adjectives,  and 
adverbs  derived  from  these),  is  never  used.  Such  combinations 
are :  ovKen,  oviray,  ovTrore,  ovBi,  ovre,  etc.  So  too  in  the  corre- 
sponding combinations  with  the  negative  /xi],  though  the  question 
is  here  complicated  by  the  special  functions  of  fnj  as  a  sentence 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  33 

negative.  In  Thuc,  vii,  34,  6,  such  an  adverb  is  used  even  with 
a  noun,  hca  rrjv  rwv  K.opiv6icov  ovKeri  eTravajcoyT^v,  cf.  p.  31. 

Regular  is  the  use  of  the  sentence  negative  with  adjectives  like 
Tra?,  'rrdvTe'i,  ttoXv^,  ttoWol,  which  are  allied  to  the  pronouns  or 
numerals  in  their  meaning  and  are  never  in  the  best  period  com- 
pounded with  the  negative  prefix ;  airoXv;  occurs  in  Damascius ; 
aTTocof;,  Democr.  ap.  Stob.,  and  airoaa,  Eccl.,  are  technical  meta- 
physical terms.  The  negative  adverb  is  used  also  with  adverbs 
like  fxaXa,  adc^a,  Stjv,  and  in  general  with  those  which  were  not 
felt  distinctly  as  derived  from  nouns  or  adjectives. 

We  are  told  by  Choeroboscus  that  the  negative  adverb  cannot 
have  a  distinctly  privative  force ;  cf.  Et.  Mag.  639,  50,  ?;  fiev 
(TTeprjcn^  eVi/SaXA-OfTo?  iarcv  cnev^ia,  cb?  aTe')(yo<i  prJTcop,  97  8e 
d7ro(fiaai<;  co?  eVu^e  Xa/x/SdveTai  ....  01)  reT^fi/co?  0  6vo<i- 
aTe')(yo<i  he  6  ovo^,  ov  Svvarov  Xiyeiv.  But  the  difference  is  rather 
to  be  explained  as  due  to  the  characterizing  force  of  compounds  in 
general,  dre-xva  applied  to  the  orator  affects  his  character,  not  so 
when  it  is  applied  to  the  ass. 

When  the  negative  prefix  appears  in  a  mutatum  as  dre'y^i^o'i,  the 
negative  adverb  can  be  used  in  its  place  only  by  combining  it  with 
a  derivative  adjective,  as  in  ov  Te')(}>t,K6<i.  A  mutatum  formed 
with  the  negative  adverb  would  be  a  decided  anomaly.  Other 
equivalents  for  the  mutata  may  be  found  in  phrases  with  dvev, 
')(a)pi'i,  or  their  equivalents  ;  e.  g.,  irovov  roi  ^copl?  ovBep  evrv^ei, 
Soph.  El.  945;  dvev  uKoXovdov,  Plat.  Symp.  217  a,  drep  KopvOof 
T€  Kol  dairiho^,  ouS'  e^ef  e'y')(p<i,  II.  21,  50.     So  Suidas,  dvdifxoTOfi, 

%(W/>t.9  opKov. 

ovSevoa-copa  (neut.  pi.),  II.  8,  178,  is  a  solitary  example  of  a 
dependent  negative  compound  with  a  case  form  in  the  first  member, 
belonging  thus  to  the  class  of  improper  compounds  {irapdOera). 
In  ovTi8av6<;  -avo-  seems  to  be  a  suffix,  and  -rih-  is  perhaps  = 
Tt  =  Lat.  quid  (Brugmann,  Vgl.  Gram.  2,  135). 

Just  as  we  shall  see  that  by  a  kind  of  hyperbole  the  negative 
compounds  were  used  in  cases  where  the  ancient  grammarians 
attribute  to  the  prefix  the  sense  of  KaKov  or  oXljov,  so  we  find 
that  by  the  figure  of  understatement,  of  which  the  Greeks  were 
rather  fond,  the  compounds  in  Sva-  were  sometimes  employed 
where  a  strictly  negative  compound  would  not  be  improper.     So 


34  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

Bv(T6^7]VvaTo<;  Secr/xo?,  Eur.  Hipp.  1237  ;  kukwv  <yap  8vcraXo)TO<; 
ouSet?,  Soph.  O.  C  1723;  SuaSfjiota  (=  dvo/xoca)  cited  from 
Strattis  by  Suidas ;  also  Suaajvo<;,  hva^arc;,  hvavorjTo^.  The 
use  of  the  negative  compounds  in  hyperbole  and  the  employment 
of  the  hvcr-  compounds  in  litotes  makes  it  possible  for  compounds 
of  either  class  to  do  duty  as  substitutes  for  those  of  the  other. 
Cf.  the  use  of  Latin  male  in  phrases  like  statio  malejida  carinis, 
Verg.  Aeu.  2,  23.  The  potential  force  of  the  verbals  in  -To<i  is 
predominant  in  their  composition  with  hva--,  as  it  is  very  common 
in  the  strictly  negative  compounds. 

Similar  is  the  use  of  kuko^;  in  composition  ;  e.  g.,  KaKOTV')(r]^, 
Eur.  Med.  1274  =  drv'xri'i  and  cf.  KaKorv)(^cov,  Thuc,  il,  60,  3. 
Sometimes  in  the  scholia  negative  compounds  are  explained  by 
compounds  with  KaKo-  and  6\i<yo-.  So  darj^wv  KaKocnfjiJbwv, 
schol.  Soph.  Ant.  1013;  Eustath.  on  Od.  11,  490, '  a/cXT^po?  8e 
dvr]p  0  oXtyoKXrjpo'i.  Cf.  Eustath.  on  II.  5,  800,  to  Se  oXlyov 
ravTov  ian  vvv  t<x>  rJTrov,  avrb  8e  dvrX  rov  ou8afia)<i.  So  Suidas, 
sub  voc.  oXlyov,  dvrl  rov  ovSo\co<;  (ouS'  oXco?). 

Compounds  with  certain  prepositions  too  may  be  in  eflPect  nega- 
tive. So  with  diTO,  diro^evof;,  Soph.  O.  T.  196  =  d^evoq,  id. 
Philoc.  217.  Examples  are  numerous :  aTroSetTri^o?,  ciTrepyo^, 
dirodpi^,  d7r6dvfMO<;,  d7r6cnT0<;,  d.TroaTop'yo'i,  diroTiixo^.  Cf.  Schmid, 
Atticismus,  4,  696.  dirrjXiaaTd  (dual),  Ar.  Av.  110,  immediately 
after  rfXtaard,  being  a  noun  immutatum,  is  an  irregular  and  comic 
formation  made  for  the  sake  of  the  antithesis ;  cf.  on  dBcorrj^,  p. 
23.  Examples  with  i^  are :  e/cStKo?,  cKvofxa,  eKvov;,  eKc^pcov. 
So  even  irapd.  dvojxo'i'  6  irapdvoiMd,  Suidas,  sub  voc.  So  vtto 
in  composition  with  an  adjective  has  often  a  minimizing  force 
comparable  with  that  of  the  diminutive  suffix  in  nouns,  as  vtto- 
\evKo<i,  v7rofj,eXa<i,  viro'rrvppo'i,  somewhat  white,  etc.,  a  usage 
especially  common  in  scientific  writers. 

Compounds  with  certain  verbal  stems  as  first  members  are  often 
practically  negative.  As  in  the  case  of  other  compounds  with 
verbal  first  member,  they  are  mostly  poetic  in  the  classical  period. 
Examples,  (^vyoirroXep^o'^,  Od.  14,  213,  ^vyofMwx^o^,  Simon.  106; 
compounds  of  Xtiro-  are  found  in  tragedy  and  abound  in  late  Greek, 
especially  in  Nonnus,  as  XiTroyXwaa-ci,  Xnroa-Oevrj'i,  Xlttoctkioi;. 
So  Xvcn/j,epi,/jivo<;  =  dfjiipi/jLva  in  its  sense  of  '  driving  away  care.' 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek,  35 

For  certain  adjective  first  members  equivalent  to  the  nega- 
tive prefix  compare  eprj/uiOTroXi^;  Eur.,  eprjfioKOfMrjq  Anth.  Pal., 
KevavSpa  Aesch.,  Soph.,  Kevohovri^  Anth.  Pal.,  K€v6o-apKo<i  Et. 
Mag.,  /jLovo/jbdrcop  Eur. 

With  reference  to  the  derivatives  it  may  be  observed  that  in 
some  few  cases  the  range  of  usage  of  a  negative  verb  might  over- 
lap that  of  a  denominative  verb  derived  from  a  negative  compound. 
Thus  under  some  circumstances  aTria-reco  might  =  ov  Treido/xac  and 
ayvoeco  might  =^  ov  yiyvooaKo) ;  on  the  other  hand  the  common 
ovK  edeXwv  and  ovk  iOeXo)  quite  take  the  place  of  a  negative 
adjective  and  its  derived  verb. 

A  similar  partial  coincidence  in  function  is  true  also  in  the  case 
of  the  negative  abstract  noun  and  the  articular  infinitive ;  but  the 
coincidence  is  only  partial.  The  articular  infinitive  is  much  the 
more  readily  productive ;  it  does  not,  as  does  often  the  abstract 
noun,  acquire  transferred  significations  different  from  that  of  its 
verb ;  the  variation  in  form  according  to  voice  and  tense  makes 
the  meaning  of  the  infinitive  more  explicit;  finally,  the  infinitive 
may  carry  with  it  a  subject  and  all  the  verbal  modifiers.  Cf. 
Prof.  Gildersleeve  in  Trans.  Am.  Philological  Assn.,  1878,  p.  18. 
On  the  other  hand  the  abstract  noun  is  more  implicit  and  terse ; 
it  has  more  of  a€fxv6Tri<; ;  and,  where  it  is  in  common  use,  it  is 
less  clumsy  than  the  articular  infinitive. 

VII.    SEMASIOLOGY  OF  THE   NEGATIVE 
COMPOUNDS. 

The  simplest  and  readiest  theory  for  the  entrance  of  the  nega- 
tive into  language  is  the  assumption  that  the  negative  was  originally 
free  and  formed  a  sentence  by  itself,  a  phenomenon  still  not  un- 
common in  Classical  Greek  ;  cf.  Plat.  Phaedr.  236  D.  Later  by 
the  most  primitive  sort  of  parataxis  it  might  come  to  be  used  just 
before  or  after  a  positive  sentence,  thereby  negativing  the  whole. 
For  the  effect  cf  oXolto  fiev  fi^,  Eur.  Med.  83 ;  also  Ar.  Aves 
1219-20,  IP.  TTOta  yap  dWj]  ■^prj  TrereaOaL  T01/9  deovf  ;  IIEI. 
OVK  ol8a  fid  At"  e7<07e*  rrjBe  fiev  yap  ov.  Cf.  too  Prof.  Gilder- 
sleeve's  explanation  of  the  origin  of  oy  fi^  in  independent  sentences 
from  the  free  negative,  A.  J.  P.,  in,  pp.  203-5.     A  sentence  thus 


36  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Gi^eek. 

negatived  as  a  whole  is  simply  "  the  expression  of  the  fact  that 
the  attempt  to  establish  a  relation  between  the  two  ideas  has 
failed,"  Paul,  Prin.  of  Lang.  (Eng.  trans.),  p.  122.  This  attach- 
ment of  the  negative  to  the  sentence,  by  which  the  latter  is  annulled 
as  a  whole,  would  naturally  be  followed  by  the  attachment  of  the 
negative  to  some  part  of  the  sentence  to  which  the  negative  particu- 
larly applies.  Thus  the  subject  may  be  felt  to  be  the  same,  while 
it  is  the  predicate  which  is  altered  by  the  negative,  so  that  the 
negative  finds  its  way  into  the  predicate.  Now  if  the  predicate 
denotes  only  an  act  or  state  which  is  somewhat  temporary  in  its 
nature  and  which  is  generally  expressed  by  the  verb,  the  combi- 
nation of  negative  and  verb  is  naturally  loose  and  not  more 
permanent  than  the  act  or  state  which  is  expressed  by  the  verb. 
The  adjective,  however, — and  this  includes  the  participle  in  its 
earlier  use, — has  more  of  a  characterizing  function  and  expresses  a 
more  or  less  permanent  quality  or  property  of  the  subject.  So 
when  the  subject  is  characterized  by  the  absence  of  a  certain 
quality,  an  habitual  combination  of  negative  and  adjective  which 
is  used  to  express  this  will  necessarily  become  a  close  compound. 
Cf.  Hartung,  Gr.  Partik.  ii,  p.  74,  "  So  wie  diese  Negation  den 
BegrifF  selbst,  und  Nicht  seine  Beziehung  bestimmt,  so  kann  sie 
auch  korperlich  nicht  als  ein  besonderes  Wort  existiren  sondern 
wird  mit  dem  zu  negirenden  Worte  eine  Zusammensetzung  bilden 
miissen."  Delbriick,  Vgl.  Synt.  ii,  p.  533,  seems  to  suggest  that 
the  negative  may  have  been  first  used  as  a  prefix  with  the  parti- 
ciple, from  whence  the  usage  was  extended  to  adjectives  and  nouns, 
but  it  is  hard  to  see  any  basis  of  probability  for  this.  A  predicate 
adjective  or  noun  in  a  negative  sentence  without  a  copula  might 
easily  furnish  the  conditions  for  starting  a  compound. 

The  necessary  and  sufficient  condition  for  a  compound  is  that 
the  individuality  of  the  component  element  be  lost  to  the  conscious- 
ness and  the  combination  itself  become  the  conventional  sign  for  a 
single  notion.  When  this  state  of  affairs  has  been  reached  the 
compound  adjective  may  become  used  as  an  attribute  or  as  a  mere 
epithet.  That  which  denotes  the  absence  of  a  quality  may  easily 
come  to  denote  its  contrary  and  may  finally  through  usage  acquire 
a  positive  content  of  its  own. 

Whether  a  negative  compound  shall  pass  through   the   inter- 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  37 

mediate  stages  between  mere  negation  and  a  positive  content 
naturally  depends  very  much  on  the  needs  and  resources  of  the 
language.  Thus  the  contrary  of  KaKo^i  is  pretty  well  expressed 
by  dyaOo'i,  so  that  dKaKo<i  is  used  as  a  merely  negative  word  = 
■*  guileless/  and  if  it  suggests  more  than  this,  we  have  an  instance 
of  litotes ;  aKaKo<i  never  ^=  the  simple  '  good,'  aSiKd,  however, 
is  regularly  opposed  to  8LKaio<;,  for  there  is  no  other  word  which 
expresses  the  contrary  of  SlKaco<i  so  precisely.  Again  oXtjOtj^; 
has  gone  a  long  way  from  its  original  negative  signification  and 
has  acquired  a  very  distinct  positive  notion  of  its  own. 

In  a  stage  of  thought  and  language  where  there  is  little  occasion 
to  distinguish  the  negative  from  the  contrary,  there  would  be  but 
little  impulse  toward  the  formation  of  negative  compounds  and 
the  needs  of  expression  would  be  satisfied  by  the  primitive  pairs 
of  positive  adjectives  of  opposite  meaning,  as  fxiyafi  fjLiKp6<;, 
^frvxpo<i  depix6<i.  This  is  a  further  exemplification  of  the  general 
principle  emphasized  by  Osthoff  in  his  recent  academic  address, 
Vom  Suppletivwesen  der  Indo-Germanischen  Sprachen,  that 
there  is  a  stage  in  man's  use  of  language  when  his  capacity 
for  classification  is  weak  and  when  differences  of  tense,  gender, 
degree  of  comparison,  etc.,  are  expressed  rather  by  means  of 
words  formed  on  different  roots  than  by  words  formed  by  suffixal 
or  other  modifications  of  the  same  root.  So  the  use  of  words 
radically  different  to  express  the  two  genders  of  the  same 
species  seems  to  be  older  than  the  use  of  the  so-called  substantiva 
mobilia ;  e.  g.  pairs  like  brother  and  sister,  son  and  daughter, 
horse  and  mare,  are  undoubtedly  older  than  formations  like 
a8e\0o9.  d8e\(jii]  ;  jilius,  jilia  ;  he-goat,  she-goat.  Words  of  this 
class  which  are  material  (stoffiich)  rather  than  formal  opposites 
seem  to  occur  mostly  to  express  the  closest  of  family  relationships 
and  the  sex  of  the  most  familiar  of  domestic  animals.  In  English 
we  say  bull  and  coiv,  but  in  the  case  of  animals  which  are  not 
native  to  British  soil  or  which  are  less  familiar  we  are  apt  to 
resort  to  mere  formal  variation  of  suffix,  prefix,  or  compound 
to  express  gender,  so  lion,  lioness,  bull-buffalo,  coiv-buffalo,  buck- 
rabbit.  The  same  principle  holds  true  of  diminutives;  thus  we 
iSay  baby,  colt,  puppy,  but  baby-elephant,  lion-cub,  etc. 


38  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

To  Osthoff's  examples  of  the  working  of  the  principle  in  the 
defective  verbs  (so-called),  irregularly  compared  adjectives,  sex- 
words,  numerals  and  pronouns,  might  be  added  the  expression 
of  qualitative  opposites  by  words  from  different  roots  rather  than 
by  a  word  and  its  formal  negative.  While  a  language  is  still 
growing  and  productive  in  the  formation  of  new  words,  it  has 
uo  need  to  avail  itself  of  the  device  of  the  negative  compound. 
Of  negative  compounds  which  may  fairly  be  assumed  for  the 
pro-ethnic  speech,  Fick,  I.  G.  W5rterbuch,  i,  pp.  94  ff.,  gives 
only  about  eighteen,  and  many  of  these  have  a  secondary  char- 
acter, as  have  also  the  great  majority  of  the  compounds  in  Homer 
and  in  Greek  generally.  Ten  of  these  eighteen  words  are  found 
in  Greek  and  in  almost  every  one  of  them  the  negative  force  i& 
still  very  prominent  and  not  easily  expressed  by  a  synonym  that 
is  positive  in  form. 

The  introduction  of  new  negative  compounds  is  doubtless  most 
often  due  to  a  desire  for  precision  of  expression,  for  distinguishing 
between  negative  and  contrary,  for  expressing  the  opposite  of  some 
new  positive  adjective  for  which  the  language  offers  no  contrary^ 
or  for  expressing  the  contrary  of  one  of  a  pair  of  original  con- 
traries which  have  shifted  their  meaning  so  that  their  original 
polarity  is  no  longter  preserved.  Doubtless  too  a  certain  desire 
for  euphemism  in  expression  or  litotes  is  the  cause  for  the  intro- 
duction of  many  negative  words,  but  the  consciousness  of  the 
figure  soon  fades  away  with  use.  Thus  the  production  of  new 
compounds  is  often  an  index  of  reflectiveness  or  of  an  affected 
striving  for  precision. 

The  negative  formations  seem  to  have  proved  so  convenient  in 
the  growth  of  the  language  that  they  were  used  as  vehicles  of 
expression  for  ideas  which  seem  to  have  arisen  independently 
of  any  formal  positive  contrary.  So  dvapxo<;  can  be  opposed 
only  by  evTaKra  or  Koafxco^; ;  a/nefiTTTo^  is  far  more  common 
than  /i.6/i7rT09.  dveXeyKTo^;  and  ave^e\eyKTo<;  are  not  uncommon, 
while  eXeyKTo-i  is  cited  only  from  Hesychius,  and  so  with  many 
verbals  in  -T09. 

Rarely  we  find  a  positive  adjective  which  seems  only  a  'pendant' 
to  its  negative ;  e.  g.  Tnj/juav,  *  baneful/  Orph.  Hymn.,  opposed  to 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  39 

airrj fimv ,  Horn. ;  imfjv,  '  winged/  Herodian,  opposed  to  aTrrijv, 
Horn.  Cf.  the  Sanskrit  sura,  '  god '  by  popular  etymology  from 
asura,  'demon.' 

The  tendency  of  the  negative  compounds  to  acquire  a  contrary 
or  positive  content  prevents  any  but  a  new  or  unusual  compound 
from  being  used  unmodified  in  the  common  Greek  figure  of  litotes. 
In  a  new  or  occasional  compound  the  force  of  the  negative  is 
more  strongly  felt  and  the  word  has  not  acquired  by  use  a  positive 
notion  of  its  own ;  so  with  words  belonging  to  a  highly  poetic 
sphere.  The  litotes  can  be  felt  in  a/ca«:o9,  afxei\i'xp<i,  a\afi'rrrj<i, 
dS6Kt/jio<; ;  but  the  examples  are  not  numerous. 

The  positive  content  of  many  of  these  compounds  is  shown  too 
by  the  readiness  with  which  they  may  form  derivatives  or  extend 
their  inflection  into  the  comparative  or  superlative  degrees.  The 
large  number  of  denominative  verbs  and  derivative  nouns  is  note- 
worthy and  examples  of  comparison  are  frequent,  as  airoriJbOTaTO';, 
Od.  1,  219,  dfjuadearare,  Ar.  Ran.  933,  dvoaKorepov  koX  dirtcFTO- 
repov,  Andoc.  1,  23. 

A  quite  exceptional  instance  of  the  reinforcement  of  the  negative 
prefix  by  another  and  independent  negative  is  to  be  seen  in  Eur 
Androm.  745-6,  aKia  yap  dvTi(TTOL')(o<i  mv  (fxovrjv  e%€t9  |  dBvvarof; 
ovSev  aXko  TrXrjv  Xeyetv  [xovov,  where  the  context  shows  that 
V.  746  means  '  unable  to  do  aught  but  speak,'  and  not  '  feeble  in 
naught  but  speech,'  which  would  be  the  normal  interpretation. 
(i8vvaro<i  is  here  used  like  ov  8vvaT6<;  and  the  poet  seems  to  have 
made  the  odd  experiment  of  trying  to  resolve  the  compound  by 
treating  the  inseparable  prefix  as  separable  and  an  independent 
word  (cf.  p.  36). 

In  Soph.  Ant.  175-7,  the  negative  sense  of  d/x'^x^vov  justifies 
the  following  irplv  dv  with  the  subjunctive : 

d^ir]'^avov  Se  7ravT0<;  dv8po<;  eK^aOeiv 
yfrv^^yjv  re  kuI  (ppovrifia  Kol  yvco/xTjv,  irplv  dv 
dp')(al<i  re  Koi  vofioiaiv  ivTpt/Srjf;  cfjavfj. 

Cf.  Eur.  I.  A.  489-90  and  see  A.  J.  P.  ii,  469 ;  G.  M.  T.  633. 


40  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek, 

The  Greek  name  for  the  common  negative  prefix  was  ak^a 

a-reprjTCKov  =  alpha-privative.  Yet  cf.  Chrysippus  ap.  Simplic. 
ad  Arist.  Cat.  ed.  Basil,  f.  100  A,  to  ^yap  aOdvarov  a-repTjTLKov 
eyov  TO  (T')(r]/jba  r?}?  Xe^eto?  ov  crrjfjbaLveL  arepr]cnv'  ov  yap  iirl 
ire^VKOTO'i  airoOvrjCTKeLV,  elra  fjurj  aTrodvyaKovTCi  y^pdifxeda  rcS 
ovo/jiaTC.  .  .  .  Kal  to  kukov  Se  SrjXovTat  TroXXa/ci?,  co?  d(f>a)VOV 
iXeyofiev  TpaycpBov  tov  KaKocj^covov.  Kal  d7ro(f)daet<;  Se  hrjXovvTai 
Sm  Tcbv  aT€p7}Ti,Kcov  cf)(ov(ov,  oicnrep  to  Sid<popa,  dhLd(^opa  Kal 
XvatTeXrj,  aXvaiTeXij.  So  Choeroboscus,  Can.  361,  and  Et.  Mag. 
639,  50,  dfieXet  rjVLKa  rj  a  crTepr]ai<;  fxrj  crrjfiaivet  iiTL^dWovTO'i 
d'iroTV')(iav,  totc  uvtX  diro^daeoa^;  avTrjv  Xijovatv  eo?  d6dvaT0<;, 
aXoyot;.  Thus  it  is  plain  that  even  the  ancients  saw  that  the 
prefix  was  not  always  privative  in  the  strict  sense  of  that  word, 
but  was  often  a  mere  negation  (aTro^atri?)  as  in  dBLd(j)opo^, 
d\v(ri,Te\i]<i,  and  so,  in  a  sense,  in  the  mutatum  dddvaTo^.  Cf. 
pp.  6,  33.  But  the  distinction  between  privation  and  mere  nega- 
tion is  generally  outside  of  language. 

Again  we  have  a  sort  of  hyperbole  when  d^covo<i  is  used  of  a 
bad  actor,  dKdpBio<i  of  a  coward,  d7r\evpo<i  of  a  man  with  weak 
lungs,  dfiadrj'i  of  a  man  of  little  learning.  Cf.  Lobeck,  Path.  Gr. 
Serm.,  i,  p.  29,  where  Choeroboscus  and  Theodosius  are  quoted 
as  follows :  to  ak<^a  eiTTa  arj/jbalveL'  (TTeprjcriv  &)?  d(f)iXo<i,  iTTLTacriv 
O)?  TO  d^v\o<i  vXt),  ofjbov  6i<i  d\o')(o<i  Kal  dhe\<^6<i,  KaKov  &)?  to 
d^covo<i  6  KaK6<^ci>vo<i,  oXljov  to?  d/jLadr)<i  6  oXiyofiaOijii,  ddpoiaiv 
0)9  TO  diraf;,  irXeovaa-fiov  co?  to  dcrTa(j)o<i.  It  is  evident  that  what 
the  grammarians  call  a-Tepr)(Tt<;,  KaKov  and  okiyov  belong  to  our 
alpha-privative,  though  the  latter  two  do  not  at  all  express  the 
true  force  of  the  prefix,  but  show  simply  that  the  negative  com- 
pounds may  be  used  in  hyperbole.  On  the  use  of  a  negative 
compound  to  denote  what  is  disagreeable  or  monstrous,  cf.  Soph. 
El.  492,  where  the  scholiast  explains  d\€KTpo<;  by  8va\eKTpo<i, 
and  Soph.  Trach.  1060,  07X0)0-0-09,  schol.  KaKoyXwaao^ ;  so 
d/jLop(f)ou  in  Cic.  ad  Att.  7,  8  fin.,  which  Tyrrell  translates  '  bad 
form ' ;  cf.  the  German  Ungewitter.  This  use  of  the  negative 
prefix  has  been  thought  by  some  to  form  the  connecting  link 
between  it  and  the  so-called  alpha-intensive,  the  iirLTaac^;  of  the 
grammarians  quoted  above.  Pott,  E.  F.^,  i,  p.  387,  cites  0701/09, 
which  is  glossed  by  Hesychius  with  iroXvyovo^.     So  Key,  Trans. 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  41 

Philol.  Soc,  1865,  p.  64,  compares  a-privative  and  intensive  to 
Latin  male,  which  may  be  privative  or  intensive  according  to 
circumstances.  But  it  is  simpler  to  connect  most  of  the  cases 
of  so-called  a-intensive  with  the  a-copulative,  the  o/xov  and 
dOpoKTif  of  the  grammarians. 

VIII.    THE   NEGATIVE   COMPOUNDS  AS  AN 
ELEMENT   OF   STYLE. 

In  the  study  by  us  moderns  of  a  language  no  longer  accessible 
to  us  through  the  medium  of  living  speech  analytical  methods 
play  an  important  part  in  assisting  our  appreciation  of  the  ele- 
ments of  style.  The  observation  from  a  syntactical  and  lexical 
point  of  view  of  the  development  of  modes  of  expression  has 
therefore  a  certain  value  in  enabling  us  better  to  estimate  the 
stylistic  character  of  the  various  Greek  authors. 

The  consideration  of  the  negative  compounds  with  reference  to 
style  falls  naturally  into  two  divisions.  We  may  observe,  first, 
the  effect  upon  style  which  the  negative  compounds  have  in 
common  with  the  compounds  in  general  and,  secondly,  the  stylistic 
character  which  is  peculiar  to  the  negative  compounds. 

The  creative  activity  of  the  users  of  language  in  the  produc- 
tion of  new  words  is  nowhere  more  apparent  than  in  the  coinage 
of  new  compounds.  The  best  Greek  prose  with  its  characteristic 
moderation  used  compounds  for  the  most  part  to  convey  some  defi- 
nitely crystallized  idea  which  required  a  permanent  and  unitary 
form  for  its  expression.  Thus  the  compounds  were  not  used  in 
Greek  as  in  Sanskrit  prose  to  give  expression  to  a  passing  fact  or  to 
a  merely  incidental  attribute,  but  for  these  the  Greek  would  use  the 
more  readily  extemporized  syntactical  combinations  of  words  for 
which  it  had  abundant  facilities,  especially  in  its  large  use  of  the 
participle  and  the  articular  infinitive.  So  the  common  use  in 
the  later  Sanskrit  of  compounds  to  express  a  mere  occasional 
complex  of  ideas  makes  it  impossible  to  ascribe  to  a  Sanskrit 
compound  that  more  definite  characterizing  force  which  a  Greek 
compound  has.  We  are  to  recognize  then  in  the  use  of  a  new 
compound  by  a  Greek  author  a  distinct  exercise  of  the  creative 
faculty  in  language  and  we  should  expect  to  see  the  compounds 


42  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

entering  the  language  in  those  spheres  where  the  creative  faculty 
has  the  greatest  activity.  One  of  these  spheres  is  that  of  the 
7roir)Ti]s,  whose  function  it  is  to  beget  new  combinations  of  ideas 
or  at  least  new  expressions  for  old  ones.  In  using  a  new  com- 
pound the  poet  has  a  form  of  expression  which  is  his  own  creation 
and  which  puts  the  idea  in  a  brief  and  implicit  form.  His 
language  thus  acquires  a  cre/zi/or?;?  which  is  above  the  level  of 
ordinary  speech.  This  is  the  o-eyavoT?;?  which  is  a  common 
characteristic  of  a  nominal  as  contrasted  with  a  verbal  expression ; 
cf.  crooTTjp  'ladc,  Aesch.  Ag.  512,  awTrjp  jevov  [mol,  id.  Cho.  2,  for 
<T<x>^e  and  awaov  ^e  respectively,  also  Hdt.  7,  139,  3.  If  the  poet 
uses,  as  he  sometimes  does,  a  compound  to  designate  a  particular 
action  or  relation,  he  nevertheless  characterizes  the  subject  through 
this  act  or  relation,  and  this  makes  his  statement  of  the  fact  much 
more  impressive.  Aeschylus'  7ro\vdvopo^  aixc^l  >yvvaiK6<;,  Ag.  62, 
characterizes  Helen  more  than  any  less  implicit  expression  could 
do.  In  (TV  fiev  <pdl/jb€vo<;  aXalvei'^  dda7rTo<;,  dvv8po<;,  Eur.  Tro. 
1085,  the  compounds  state  condition  as  well  as  fact ;  so  droKo<i, 
Eur.  El.  1127,  ^r^elroiv,  ibid.  1130. 

The  more  implicit  character  of  compounds  as  contrasted  with 
the  corresponding  syntactical  combinations  lent  itself  readily  to 
that  striving  after  vague  expression  which  was  characteristic  of 
the  dithyramb.  The  dithyramb  was  the  great  '  Tumvielplatz '  for 
all  that  was  bold  in  the  formation  of  compounds,  and  tragedy 
shows  traces  of  its  dithyrambic  antecedents  in  its  tendency  toward 
fullness  and  boldness  in  the  use  of  compounds,  especially  in  the 
choral  parts.  The  comic  poets,  as  creative  as  any  others,  but  with 
a  different  purpose,  either  parodied  the  more  serious  poets  in  the 
use  of  compounds,  or  else  carried  their  formations  to  the  extreme 
of  clumsiness  for  comic  effect. 

The  second  great  sphere  of  creativeness  in  the  production  of 
compound  words  is  the  language  of  those  who  deal  with  subjects 
more  or  less  technical.  Such  are  the  philosophical  and  scientific 
writers,  men  who  must  have  new  terms  to  describe  new  con- 
ceptions and  discoveries.  In  the  endeavor  to  give  accurate 
expression  to  new  ideas  they  tax  to  the  utmost  the  capacities  of 
the  language  and  sometimes  do  violence  to  its  laws  of  composition. 
The  negative  compounds  are  especially  prominent  in  these  depart- 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek,  43 

ments  of  literature,  as  for  example  in  many  of  the  writings  of  the 
Hippocratean  corpus,  and  we  may  compare  the  large  use  of  non- 
and  a-  as  prefixes  in  modern  technical  and  scientific  writings.  A 
glance  at  an  English  dictionary  will  show  how  numerous  are 
words  like  non-contagious,  anodyne,  anaesthetic,  etc.  The  wonder- 
ful fertility  of  the  Greek  in  evolving  new  technical  terras  by 
composition  of  elements  native  to  the  language,  when  compared 
with  the  barrenness  of  English  in  this  respect,  need  occasion  no 
surprise,  for  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  Greek  could  not,  as 
does  the  English,  draw  for  its  technical  vocabulary  on  two  ancient 
languages  so  long  the  vehicles  of  science  and  culture. 

While  very  many  of  the  compounds  remained  confined  in  their 
use  to  the  poetic  and  technical  spheres,  others  descended  to  the 
level  of  the  more  ordinary  prose.  Some  of  the  compounds  which 
appear  in  ordinary  prose  are  really  technical  in  origin,  as  when  an 
orator  employs  a  legal  expression  or  an  historian  a  word  borrowed 
from  the  vocabulary  of  military  science,  nor  is  it  surprising  if  an 
orator  occasionally  uses  a  lofty  and  perhaps  tragic  word  in  the 
epilogue.  In  later  Greek  the  poetic  or  technical  feeling  of  the 
older  types  of  compounds  was  largely  lost  and  their  use  became 
a  part  of  the  language's  common  stock  of  expressions,  so  that 
there  was  an  approach  to  the  facility  of  the  German  in  composi- 
tion, yet  never  to  that  of  the  Sanskrit.  The  poets,  especially  in 
the  later  periods,  made  their  use  of  compounds  more  poetic  by 
multiplying  compounds  of  unusual  types ;  cf.,  e.  g.,  the  large  use 
of  compounds  like  \t7r6(TKio<i  (=  dcrKia)  in  Nonnus  (cf.  p.  34). 

The  line  between  the  artistic  and  technical  compounds  and  those 
of  every-day  speech  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  draw ;  the  techni- 
cal language  or  cant  of  one  period  may  be  a  part  of  the  popular 
idiom  of  the  next.  The  compounds  of  the  poets  do  not  so  readily 
tend  to  sink  to  the  common  level  as  do  the  technical  words,  the 
former  being  the  creations  of  art  and  feeling  rather  than  due  like 
the  latter  to  the  necessities  of  expression.  The  artistic  compounds 
may  be  classed  with  the  luxuries,  the  scientific  and  technical  ones 
among  the  necessities  of  language.  It  is  noticeable  that  a  very 
large  number  of  the  more  common  compounds,  including  many 
negative   words,   belong  to  the  ethical  sphere,    a  department  of 


44  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

Greek  thought  in  which  poetry  and  philosophy  may  be  said  to 
meet  and  one  where  antithesis  is  particularly  frequent. 

The  form  and  meaning  of  the  negative  compounds  lent  them- 
selves readily  to  particular  stylistic  effects. 

This  is  very  noticeable  where  these  compounds  are  used  two  or 
more  together.  Formally  this  makes  a  species  of  that  figure 
which  is  variously  called  alliteration,  annomination,  homoeopro- 
phoron,  parhomoeon ;  in  Greek  6fj,oi6apKTov,  ofioLOKarapKrov,  cf. 
Max.  Plan,  in  Walz,  Rhett.  Gr.,  v,  511,  6,  551,  4.  Doubtless  the 
full  sound  which  belongs  to  the  vowel  a  gives  it  a  phonetic  effec- 
tiveness suited  to  pathetic  situations.  Here,  however,  the  figure 
resides  in  the  sense  as  well  as  in  the  sound,  and  we  have  really  a 
species  of  anaphora.  Now  a  negative  compound  characterizes  its 
subject,  as  the  name  a-a-repTjTtKov  implies,  by  attributing  to  it  a 
deprivation  or  lack  of  something  and,  if  this  something  be  one 
of  the  chief  objects  of  human  interest  or  desire,  the  privation 
connotes  feeling  and  the  compound  has  necessarily  a  pathetic  or 
drastic  character,  the  effect  of  which  is  heightened  by  repetition. 
So  II.  9,  63-4, 

a<^priTwp  d6efMiaT0<i  ave<7ri6<i  icrrcv  eiceivo<i, 
09  TToXifMov  eparai  iTnBrjfjiiov  0Kpv6evT0<i, 

where  the  effect  is  made  greater,  as  often,  by  the  asyndeton ; 
cf.  Od.  1,  242,  ot'xeT  ai(TTo<;  a7rvcrTo<i.  So  also  II.  2,  201, 
aTTToXe/xo?  koI  dva\Ki<;,  and  the  same  combination  in  II.  9,  35 
and  41 ;  Simon.  36  (51),  ovSe  ....  airovov  ouS'  d(f)6irov  ouS* 
aKivhwov  ^iov  \  t'?  y^pa^  i^iKovTo  Te\eaa-avre<i.  For  such  ex- 
pressions of  a  more  felicitous  character  note  the  frequent  combi- 
nation, ayijpaov  aOavcLTTjv  re,  II.  2,  447,  et  al. 

This  figure  is  a  great  favorite  with  the  tragic  poets.  Next  ta 
the  TT-alliterations  the  a-alliterations  are  the  most  numerous  in  the 
plays  of  the  three  great  tragedians  and,  as  is  the  case  with 
alliteration  generally,  a  considerable  majority  of  the  cases  occur 
in  the  lyric  parts.  Many  of  these  instances  of  a-alliteration  are 
due  to  the  massing  of  the  privative  compounds,  though  the 
alliteration  is  sometimes  extended  by  the  addition  of  other  words 
beginning  with  a.     See  Riedel,  Alliteration  bei  den  drei  grossen 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  45 

griechischen  Tragikern,  diss.,  Erlangen,  1900.  Examples  are: 
a')(opov  aKidapiv  ....  "Apr],  Aesch.  Supp.  681  ;  afia')(ov,  arro- 
Xefiov,  aviepov,  id.  Ag.  769 ;  cf.  Cho.  55 ;  uKXavra,  acfiiko^, 
dvv/j,6vato<i  ep')(^ofjLat  rav  Trvfidrav  oSov,  Soph.  Ant.  876  ;  ibid.  29, 
1071  ;  "Ai'So?  ore  Moip'  dvvfj,evato<;  \  aXvpof;  a')(opo'i  dvanrecfirjve, 
id.  O.  C.  1221;  cf.  ibid.  1236-7;  ciTrai^  re  Kayvvat^  Kavkcmo'i, 
id.  frag.  4  N. ;  dvd8e\(po'i,  dirdrbyp,  d(f)cXo<i,  Eur.  Or.  310;  d<yafio<;, 
dT€Kvo<;,  aTToXt?,  d(])i\o<i,  id.  Iph.  T.  220 ;  ddeov,  civo/jlov,  uSckov, 
id.  Bacch.  995,  So  Ar.  Ran.  204  is  doubtless  paratragedy :  Kara 
TTfti?  Sw^crofiac  \  dneipa  d0a\drTcoTO<;,  daa\afA,Lvto<;  \  mv,  eir 
iXavveiv,  of.  Vesp.  729-30,  and  Phrynichus,  fragg.  18,  19  k  (ii, 
pp.  587,  592  m).  For  the  orators  cf.  Autiphon,  1,  22,  dOe/jiiara  koX 
dvotjLa  Kal  dTeXeara  /cal  dvrjKOVcrra  ;  in  the  Palaniedes  ascribed 
to  Gorgias,  36,  heivov  ddeov  dSiKov  dvop,ov  epyov,  recalling  Eur. 
Bacch.  995,  quoted  above ;  Demos.  25,  52,  dXX'  daTreicrTo^,  dvi- 
SpvTO^,  dfiCKTOt;,  ov  ')(dpiv,  ov  ^cXiav,  ovk  dXX"  ovSev  oiv  dvOpcorrro^ 
fierpoo^;  ytyvoxxKcov  ;  cf.  Lys.  12,  82.  So  Plat.  Phaedr.  240  A, 
dyafxov  diraiSa  doiKov.  The  frequency  of  the  phenomenon  in  the 
English  poets  has  long  been  a  subject  of  remark.  Two  stock  ex- 
amples are,  "unwept,  unhonored  and  unsung,"  Scott,  Lay  of  the 
Last  Minstrel,  6,  1,  16,  and  "unhousel'd,  disappointed,  unaneled," 
Shak.  Hamlet,  1,  5,  77.  The  large  use  of  negative  words  is  thus 
often  a  mark  of  an  elevated  style ;  cf.  remarks  hereafter  on  their 
use  in  Autiphon. 

As  in  some  of  the  examples  given  above,  the  compounds  are 
frequently  massed  in  threes.  Whether  we  are  to  see  in  this  fact 
any  connection  with  three  as  a  sacred  number  and  hence  with  the 
threefold  repetition  common  in  old  religious  poetry  and  formulae 
is  doubtful.  The  compounds  occur  very  often  in  pairs  and  occa- 
sionally in  a  series  of  four  or  more.  Yet  cf.  Karl  Frey,  Homer, 
progr.  Bern,  1881,  p.  31,  "Die  Dreizahl  ist  in  der  Kunst  eiue 
feierliche  Form.  Und  ihre  Verweudung  ist  unendlich.  Und  im 
Grossen  und  im  Kleinen  wird  sie  angewendet ;  drei  Epitheta  sind 
ein  beliebter  Redeschmuck,  und  der  griechische  Tragiker  theilte 
sein  grosses  Festspiel  ein  in  drei  Acte;  est  ist  eine  Trilogie.  Auch 
die  greichische  Komodie  beruht  auf  der  Dreizahl,  insofern  zwei 
Parabasen  die  Handlung  trennen ;  auch  sie  ist  eine  Trilogie." 


46  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

This  whole  subject  belongs  to  the  great  chapter  of  reduplication 
in  language.  A  different  phenomenon  is  the  Greek  fondness  for 
reinforcing  one  negative  by  another  one  or  more  as  in  Plat. 
Phaedo,  78  D,  ovheirore  ovhajjif)  ovZajjbw^  aXXolcoatv  ovhe^lav 
ivBex^Tai ;  for  a  reinforcement  of  the  privative  prefix  by  another 
negative  see  p.  39. 

Another  form  of  reduplication  is  the  jigura  etymologlca,  a  figure 
which  doubtless  had  its  beginnings  in  the  oldest  popular  poetry 
and  which  survived  in  tragedy,  and  was  used  occasionally  by 
most  of  the  orators.  With  some  negative  compounds  where  the 
negative  or  privative  force  is  still  very  strong  we  have  what  we 
may  call  a  cognate  genitive,  but  cognate  only  with  the  second 
member  of  the  compound,  e.  g.,  a^i\o<?  cjjlXcov,  Eur.  Hel.  524 ; 
reKca  TraTpo^  airaTopa,  id.  Her.  Fur.  114;  tov  rjBlcTTOv  aKov(r/xa- 
T09  avrjKoo^  el  koI  tov  rjSiaTov  6ed/jbaTo<i  ddearci,  Xen.  Mem.  2, 
1,  31  ;  TifjLi]<;  drcfji0<;  Tracr?/?,  Plat.  Legg.  6,  774  B;  aTraa  dppevoiv 
iralScov,  Andoc.  1,  117;  cf.  Xen,  Cyr,  4,  6,  2.  The  genitive  is 
generally  limited  by  an  adjective.  So  in  the  rhetorical  use  of  the 
cognate  accusative  in  the  orators  we  have  a  host  of  examples  of 
dBiKTjfia  dSiKetv,  but  here  the  negative  force  is  perhaps  hardly 
present  to  the  consciousness.  A  combination  of  figura  etymologica 
and  antithesis  is  often  possible  with  the  negative  compounds,  e.  g., 
Aristarch.  Trag.  frag.  2  n,  koI  tov  daOevi)  aOevetv  \  TiOrjat  koI 
TOV  airopov  evplcTKeLV  iropov. 

There  was  developed  in  Greek  a  form  of  the  jigura  etymologica, 
a  peculiar  type  of  oxymoron,  which  created  for  itself  a  special  set 
of  negative  compounds.  The  earliest  example  of  the  use  of  this 
form  of  expression  is  in  Od.  18,  73,'Ipo9 'Atpo?,  where  the  com- 
pound seems  obviously  formed  for  the  purpose  of  the  word-play. 
We  may  compare  Ai/o-Trapt?,  II.  3,  39,  and  KaKoiXtov,  Od.  19, 
260.  The  Homeric 'Ipo?  "Ai'po?  is  followed  by  more  than  a  score 
of  similar  expressions  in  later  authors,  chiefly  the  tragedians,  as 
Aesch.  Pers.  680,  vde<;  dvae^,  et  al. 

'1/309  'Atpo9  has  usually  been  intrepreted  to  mean  '  Irus,  who  is 
no  longer  Irus,'  and  so  vde<i  dvaef  =  vde<;  ov  vde<i  ovaai.  Yet 
Froehde,  Bezz.  Beitr.  20,  216,  would  read  dFipo<i  =  Sanskrit 
avlras,  '  unmanly.'  Curious  indeed  it  would  be  if  a  chance  pun 
of  the  epic  poet  had  furnished  the  model  and  authorization  for  the 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Gh^eeh.  47 

rather  numerous  brood  of  later  imitations,  which,  however,  are 
not  puns  but  examples  of  the  figura  etymologica.  Some,  as  Curtius, 
Or.  Gram.,  §  360,  and  Wheeler,  Der  Gr.  Norainalaccent,  p.  46, 
have  inclined  to  look  upon  these  negative  formations  as  immutata 
and  they  were  perhaps  influenced  by  the  analogy  of  the  Sanskrit 
negative  noun  immutata.  The  accent  in  the  Greek  words  does  not 
seem  decisive  in  one  way  or  the  other.  Brugmann,  Vgl.  Gram.,  il, 
1,  p.  89,  considers  theui  to  be  on  the  border  line  between  adjective 
and  noun  and  takes  refuge  in  the  statement  that  the  distinction 
between  adjective  and  noun  is  not  a  thoroughgoing  one  in  the 
Indo-European  languages.  Lobeck,  Paralipomena,  229  ff.,  argues 
stoutly  in  favor  of  taking  them  as  adjectives.  A  case  like  vvfju^r^v 
avvficfjov  (v.  1.  -?}),  Eur.  Hec.  612,  if  the  common  reading  is 
correct,  favors  this  view,  otherwise  one  might  expect  *d-vvfju(f)7]. 
So  "^v-^r]  dy\rv')(o<i,  Ar.  Ran.  1334,  and  fjbrjrrip  a/njTcop,  Soph.  El. 
1154,  where  otherwise  '^d'\lrvxv  and  *d/j,7]Tr]p  might- have  been 
expected.  The  change  in  ending  undoubtedly  helped  the  feeling 
of  change  in  part  of  speech.  As  has  been  shown  already  (p.  22), 
all  Greek  analogy  is  against  the  combination  of  the  negative  })re- 
fix  with  nouns  to  form  nouns,  and  when  this  occurs  in  Sanskrit, 
the  ending  generally  suffers  no  change,  so  from  vagci,  cow,  is  made 
avagd,  non-cow.  The  true  parallel  to  this  last  in  Greek  is  found 
in  expressions  like  yuvatKa  ov  yvvat/ca,  Soph.  O.  T.  1256  ;  cf.  the 
popular  riddle  in  Bergk-Hiller-Crusius,  Anthol.  Lyr.,  p.  131  : 

AiVo?  Tt?  iaTtv,  &)?  dpr]p  re  kouk  dvi]p 
opviOa  KovK  opviO^  l8(ov  re  kovk  l8o)v 
eVi  ^vXov  re  kov  ^vKov  Kadrj/jbevrjv 
Xldfp  re  KOV  \i6(p  ^dXot  re  kov  j3d\oi. 

So  in  Latin,  imitations  of  the  Greek  figure  are  not  precisely 
similar  formations,  but  employ  either  negative  adverb  -f  noun, 
or  else  a  clearly  adjectival  formation,  asfunera  nee  funera,  CatuU. 
64,  83,  insepulta  sepultura,  Cic.  Phil.  1,  2,  5  =  rd(f)ot  aTacf)OL.  So 
these  formations  nyist,  I  think,  be  looked  upon  as  adjectives  and 
hence  mutata.  The  mutatum  aTraa,  meaning  'one  who  is  no 
child,'  must  of  course  be  distinguished  from  tlie  more  common 
mutatum,  dirat^,  meaning  '  childless.' 


/^  ^  or  TV. 
f   UNIVER^ 


48  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

These  compounds,  as  is  shown  alike  by  the  range  of  literature 
in  which  they  appear  and  by  the  striking  figure  in  which  they  are 
employed,  are  quite  artificial  and  artistic  formations,  perhaps,  as 
suggested  above,  modelled  on  a  misunderstood  Homeric  pun,  and 
the  examples  are  numerous  enough  to  show  that  they  were  a  part 
of  the  regular  stock  of  figurative  expression  belonging  to  Greek 
tragedy.  The  figure  in  its  unmodified  form  is  rare  in  classical 
prose ;  a  few  examples  have  been  noted  in  the  prose  of  the  later 
period. 

The  following  examples  of  the  figure  have  been  collected : 
'Ipo9  "Ai/309,  Od.  18,  73 ;  vde<;  avae<;,  Aesch.  Pers.  680 ;  ci'x^apt'^ 
Xdpt<i,  id.  Prom.  544,  Ag.  1545  (cf.  %apti/  axapirov,  Cho.  42) 
a7ro\e/i09  TroXe/io?,  Prom.  904;  vo/xov  dvo/juov,  id.  Ag,  1142 
aTToXiv  TToXiv,  id.  Eum.  457;  TratSe?  avratSe?,  id.  Eum.  1034 
dBcopa  Bcjpa,  Soph.  Aj.  665;  fi'^rrjp  a/XTjrcop,  id.  El.  1154;  dyafiov 
<yd/xov,  id.  O.  T.  1214  :  v7rvo<i  dv7rvo<;,  id.  Phil.  848  (cf.  docKou 
elaoiKTjacv,  Phil.  534)  ;  ttot/jLov  aTroTfiov,  Eur.  Phoen.  1306, 
Hipp.  1144;  vvfjL(f)7]v  dvvfji(f)ov,  wapOevov  dnrdpOevov,  id.  Hec.  612; 
aTToXefjiov  TroXe/xov,  id.  H.  F.  1133;  Secrfjuov  dSea/jLov,  id.  Suppl. 
32;  X'^P^^  dxapiv,  id.  Iph.  T.  566  (cf.  Phoen.  1757);  SaKpv  dSaKpv, 
id.  Iph.  T.  832  (dub.  lect) ;  6801;?  dv68ov^,  id.  Iph.  T.  888 ;  ydf^ou 
dya/xov,  id.  Hel.  690  (cf.  Phoen.  1047);  cf.  d  Se  /xeyaXoTroXii; 
dTToXii;  oXroXev  ....  Tpota,  id.  Tro.  1291  ;  "yjrvxv  d'y^rvxo^,  Ar. 
Ran.  1334  (Aesch.  loq.) ;  aSee?  Seo?,  Plat.  Symp.  198  A;  TroXt? 
diroXcq  (pred.),  id.  Legg.  766  D ;  /3to9  dj3io<i,  Leon.  Tar.  Anth. 
Pal.  7,  715,  3;  %apt9  dxcf'pt,<;,  id.  ibid.  9,  322,  2;  ic6a/j,o<i  dKoa-fici, 
Jul.  Aeg.  ibid.  7,  561,  Antip.  Sid.  ibid.  9,  323,  Epigr.  Gr.  365; 
KrJ7ro<i  dKTjTToq,  Greg.  Naz.  (v.  Thesaur.) ;  SelTrva  dBetTrvo^,  Nonn. 
17,  51  ;  KO(Tfio<i  dKoa/jbo<;,  id.  6,  371  ;  oIko<;  doLKCi,  id.  17,  42.  It 
will  be  noted  how  a  number  of  the  expressions  are  repeated  and 
seem  to  have  become  a  part  of  the  literary  tradition  of  the 
language. 

The  effect  of  this  bold  figure  is  to  show  that  the  object  to 
which  the  epithet  is  applied  contradicts  its  own  true  nature  and 
so  belies  its  name.  The  force  of  these  expressions  may  be  highly 
pathetic  and  their  use  is  out  of  place  except  in  the  most  im- 
passioned speech,  ylrvxv  dyjruxo^,  Ar.  Ran.  1334,  is  put  into  the 
mouth  of  Aeschylus,  and  the  fact  that  the  figure  is  thus  used 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Gu'eek.  49 

in  travesty  shows  that  it  was  a  recognized  element  of  tragic 
diction. 

There  are  a  number  of  examples  of  equivalent  oxymora  which 
are  not  however  precisely  parallel  in  form ;  e.  g.,  /xijrep  ifir) 
Sv(T/jL7]T€p,  Otl.  23,  97;  diropa  7r6pi,fio<;,  Aesch.  Prom.  904;  6eXyoi<; 
av  dOeXKTov,  id.  Suppl.  1056;  drXrjTa  rXdaa,  id.  Ag.  407; 
TjKova  dvTjKovara,  Soph.  El.  1407  ;  (f>(o<;  dcfieyyef,  id.  O.  C.  1549  ; 
^dfi,ov<i  8vcr<ydfjiOV<;,  Eur.  Phoen.  1047;  avrj^acara)  nrvpi,  id.  Or, 
621  ;  7rt(TTtv  rSiv  iv  dvdp<o7roi<;  dTrLaTordTrjv,  Andoe.  1,  67  ;  /xrjSe 
ra?  '^dpcTa<;  d')(^apiar(ii'i  ')(api,^6ixevo<i  [Isoc],  1,  31  :  d^to3TO<i  ^co<;, 
Philemon,  frag.  90,  7  ;  93,  7  k.  (87,  90  M.),  and  freq. ;  cf.  Autiphon, 
tetral.  B,  yS,  10. 

Aristotle  in  the  chapter  of  his  Rhetoric  on  07/C09,  iir,  6,  7, 
1408  a,  teaches  that  it  is  advantageous  to  describe  a  thing  by  the 
qualities  which  it  does  not  possess, — ef  mv  fxr)  e^ei  Xeyecv.  '  For 
thus,'  he  says,  '  the  amplification  may  be  carried  to  infinity,' — 
av^erai  yap  ovrcc;  €t<;  direipov.  He  continues :  ccttl  he  tovto 
KoX  iirl  dyadoov  koX  KaKMV,  ottco?  ovk  e^et,  OTrorepw?  au  y  ■)(^prjcnfiov. 
69ev  Koi  rd  ovofjuara  ol  TroLTjral  (f)€povcri,  to  d')(ophov  Koi  to 
dXvpov  fieXo^'  GK  rwv  a-repiqcreoyv  yap  e7n(f)epovaiv'  evSoKCfiel  yap 
TOVTO  iv  Tat<;  fieTa(f)opai<;  Xeyofjuevov  Tai<i  dvdXoyov,  olov  to  (f)dvai 
TYjv  adXinyya  elvat  /j,eXo<{  dXvpov.  The  figure  thus  belongs  to 
Aristotle's  class  of  proportional  metaphors,  fieTacf^opal  e«  tov 
avdXoyov.  In  Rhet.  3,  11,  11,  1412  b,  fin.,  Aristotle  gives 
another  example :  to^ov  (sc.  io-TX)  (f>6pp,cy^  d')(opho'i,  cf.  Theogn. 
Trag.  frag.  In.;  so  in  the  example  in  Poet.  21,  15,  the  shield  is 
called  (fiLaXr}  "Apeew?  or  (f)idX7)  doLvo<i ;  in  Aesch.  Sept.  82,  the 
dust  (kovl';)  is  called  dvavBo<;  dyyeXoi;.  See  Cope,  Arist.  Rhet.  ad 
locc.  The  following  proportions  may  illustrate  the  character  of 
the  figure : 

To^ov  :  vevpd,  bowstring  (omitted  term) 

=  (pop/jity^  :  x°P^V>  lyrestring ; 
k6vi<;  :  its  appearance  (omitted  term) 

=  dyyeXof;  :  avhrj. 

This  device  is  often  employed  by  the  poets  and  gives  a  special 
sphere  for  the  use  of  the  negative  compounds.     Examples  abound 


50  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek, 

ill  the  tragedians,  as  dirrepa  (j)drt<;,  Aesch.  Ag.  276  (cf.  eVea 
TTTepoevTo) ;  the  sceut  of  blood  is  /jLtjvvtvp  a^6e'yKT0<i,  id.  Eura. 
245 ;  the  eagles  are  Zrjvbf}  aKpayel'i  (v.  1.  aKXayyel'^)  Kvve<;,  id. 
Prom.  803 ;  the  sting  of  the  gad-fly  is  apBt<;  a7rvpo<;,  '  a  barb  not 
wrought  with  fire/  ibid.  880;  the  Pleiades  are  called  aTrrepoc 
7re\€idSe<;,  Aesch.  frag.  312  N.;  midnight  is  daa\.7ri,HTo<;  copa. 
Soph.  frag.  357  N.  ;  an  animal's  hide  is  daTrddijro^;  ')(\aiva,  id. 
frag.  793  N.  So  Kcofxov  dvavXorarov,  Eur.  Phoen.  791  ;  alSov<^ 
d'X^akKevTotcnv  e^evKTui  TreSat?,  id.  frag.  595  N. 

Antithesis  is  a  figure  native  to  the  Greek,  and  expressions  like 
the  negative  compounds,  which  have  an  opposition  in  their  very 
nature,  are  very  readily  employed  in  such  a  figure.  Antitheses 
of  this  kind,  where  two  expressions  are  opposed  not  only  in  mean- 
ing but  also  in  form,  afford  besides  a  species  of  paronomasia.  Cf. 
p.  46.  In  the  ethical  and  philosophical  sphere  such  pairs  of 
negative  compounds  or  derivatives  with  their  positives  are  of  very 
frequent  occurrence,  but  much  less  often  is  the  antithesis  a  rhe- 
torical one.  Expressions  like  :  irepl  tmv  BtKaicov  koL  twv  dSiKcov, 
Isocr.  15,  255;  rou?  art/iou?  i7riTi/xov<;  iroirjcraL,  Andoc.  1,  109, 
are  too  simple  and  unavoidable  to  be  considered  as  conscious  elements 
of  style,  though  their  very  common  occurrence  would  be  an  index 
of  an  author's  cast  of  mind.  More  rhetorical  is  the  balancing  in 
epyov  S'  ovSev  oveiSci,  depjir)  Se  r  oveiSoq,  Hes.  Op.  311  ;  Scott; 
Ijuev  Tt<i  eB(OK€v,  dBcorj)  S'  ov  rt?  eScoKe,  ibid.  355  ;  Tra?  ti<;  irXovcnov 
dvSpa  Ttet,  aTLei.  Se  irevi'x^pov,  Theognis  621  (in  the  latter  two 
examples  the  antithesis  accounts  for  the  anomalous  forms,  dScorr), 
drieL,  see  pp.  19,  23)  ;  Gorg.,  Palamedes,  30,  iiroirja-e  tqv  dv- 
OpwTrivov  ^Lov  TTopifMov  i^  dtropov  koI  KeKoafiTj/xevov  i^  aKocr/jLov. 
So  ovT(o  Oi  re  rjfuv  acTLOC  eleven  SovXtov  ^vyov  oi  re  dvalTioi, 
Hdt.  7,  8,  3  ;  irpoaipovjxevcov  /juerpiov  /3iov  p,erd  StKacoavvrjii 
fiaXXov  T]  fiiyav  irXovrov  p,€T  dSt,KLa<;,  Isocr.  8,  93  ;  el  tov<;  fiev 
■^ScKrjKOTai;  Ti/jbcopla^  dcjielvaL  Kvptac  yevoLVTO,  e0'  rj/juv  Se  Tol<;  ev 
TreTTotrjKoa-tv  aKvpoi  KaTacTTaOelev,  id.  18,  68. 

Here  belongs  mention  of  the  negative  compounds  as  used  in  the 
(T')(r}iJba  KUT  dpaiv  koI  Oicriv,  the  figure  by  which  both  the  nega- 
tive and  positive  form  of  expression  are  used  together  for  the  same 
thing.  This  is  a  favorite  usage  in  the  older  literature ;  see 
Bekker,    Homerische   Blatter,    ii,    222.      Rehdantz,    Ind.    Dem. 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  51 

Phil,  sub  voc.  apai<i,  distinguishes  the  two  cases,  where  the 
negative  expression  precedes  and  where  it  follows.  The  former 
is  a  case  of  litotes  followed  by  its  antithetical  positive  to  guard 
against  a  misunderstanding,  as  in  ov  i^r)i<?  aedXcov  ....  aXX"  iv 
TrpcoToccrcv  oto)  efifxevat,  Od.  8,  179  ;  ovk  aKXrjroc,  7rapaK\r}0€VT€<; 
Se,  Thuc.  6,  87,  2 ;  ovk  a<j)p6vco'i  dWa  vovv  e')(ovroi<i,  Isocr. 
Ep.  5,  2.  This  sort  of  antithesis  is  frequent  in  Antiphon,  e.  g., 
ovhe  d<j>avr]'i  dXka  koI  \[av  (j)avepo<i,  tetral.  B,  7,  7  ;  oyre  .... 
ocria  aXX'  dvoaC  av  TrdOoifxev,  ibid.  11  ;  cf.  Blass,  Attische 
Beredsarakeit^,  i,  143. 

The  case  where  the  negative  follows  is  somewhat  different,  for 
here  the  first  expression  logically  includes  the  second.  At/ca^o? 
necessarily  implies  ovk  uSlko^,  but  the  converse  is  not  true. 
Examples  are :  eoiKe  roi,  ov  rot  d€iKe<;,  II.  9,  70 ;  jvco  p  ouS' 
r)<yvoir}cre,  Hes.  Theog.  551  ;  aoc^irj  .  .  .  .,  ovk  d'yvwiMoavvr), 
Hdt.  2,  172  ;  ryvcora  kovk  diyvcora,  Soph.  O.  T.  58  ;  eKovra  kovk 
ciKovTa,  ibid.  1230,  conversely,  uKovra  koI  fir)  eKovra,  Lys.  13,  19  ; 
wairep  d'tropia^i  ovctt]'?  ....  dXk"  ov  7roWrj<i  d(f)dovia<i  virap'^ovcrr]';, 
Isocr.  12,  90.  Such  is  often  the  force  of  litotes  that  an  adjectival 
expression  with  the  double  negative  is  stronger  than  that  of  the 
opposite  positive ;  thus  rhetorically  the  effect  is  a  climax ;  cf. 
Gildersleeve,  note  on  Justin  Martyr,  I,  22,  10. 

Litotes,  the  figure  of  understatement,  often  appears  in  the  form 
of  a  merely  negative  expression  of  that  which  could  be  more  truly 
expressed  positively.  As  has  been  shown  already,  the  negative 
compounds  in  common  use  could  seldom  be  used  alone  in  this 
figure.  Ordinarily,  for  instance,  the  use  of  the  term  d(Tej3rj<i 
would  be  no  litotes  at  all,  for  the  word  has  by  use  acquired  a 
positive  content  which  makes  it  the  proper  contrary,*  not  the  mere 
negative,  of  evaej3y]<;.  One  might  well  suppose  that  ao-e/St^?, 
when  first  used,  if  applied  to  a  downright  opponent  of  the  worship 
of  the  gods,  might  be  felt  as  a  true  instance  of  litotes. 

But  it  is  coupled  with  the  negative  adverb  that  these  words 
appear  so  frequently  used  in  litotes ;  indeed  it  is  probably  true 
that  litotes  in  Greek  is  much  more  frequent  with  negative  adjec- 
tives than  with  positive  and  that  some  negative  words  are  used 
only  in  this  figure.  The  reason  for  this  is  doubtless  that  the 
positive  adjectives  in  common  use  are  more  numerous  than  the 


52  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

negative,  and  since  this  form  of  litotes  consists  in  negativing 
the  opposite  of  the  word  which  would  be  used  in  simple  direct 
statement,  we  should  expect  the  opposites  of  the  more  common 
adjectives  to  predominate  here  and  not  the  common  adjectives 
themselves. 

The  force  of  the  figure  seems  to  lie  partly  in  the  suggestion 
of  reserve  on  the  side  of  the  speaker  or  writer  and  partly  in  the 
fact  that  the  hearer  or  reader  is  compelled  to  make  for  himself 
the  true  judgment  which  the  language  used  does  not  state  but  only 
implies,  so  that  the  thought  becomes  more  a  part  of  his  own 
thinking.  This  latter  fact  accounts  largely  for  the  great  force 
in  general  of  the  implicit  in  expression,  a  phenomenon  already 
noticed  in  connection  with  the  use  of  compounds. 

The  figure  is  very  common  in  Greek  from  Homer  down.  Cf. 
the  Homeric  ovk  dcjipcov,  ovk  deKcov,  ovS"  d'rrldrjae,  ov  rot  aet/ce?, 
oit  .  .  .  .  dK\r)€i<i.  djueXeo)  is  always  used  with  a  negative  in 
Homer.  The  figure  is  not  so  common  in  prose  as  in  poetry,  but 
it  is  absent  from  no  department  of  the  literature ;  cf.  ovk  dhrfK,ov, 
Antiphon,  1,  13;  ovk  drLjxwpriro'i,  id.  tetral.  B,  h,  8.. 

The  poets  sometimes  increase  the  phonetic  impressiveness  of 
their  compounds  by  adding  an  element  which,  while  making 
greater  the  number  of  syllables,  contributes  little  to  the  sense, 
so  that  the  result  hardly  differs  in  force  from  a  simple  negative 
compound.  So  for  the  simple  negative  prefix  a  negative  adjective 
is  sometimes  substituted,  e.  g.  dlhpoh'iKiqq,  Find.,  and  many  with 
airetpo-,  as  direcpor^afio'i,  Eubul.  Com.  frag.  35,  direLpohaKpvi , 
Aesch.,  d7retpofid')(r)<;,  Find.,  direipoTToXepbO'i,  Dion.  H.,  direipo- 
TOKO'i,  Antip.  Sid.  in  Anth.  Pal.  and  many  in  late  writers;  so 
Hesych.  d'rroXepLor  d7recpo7r6\€fjbo<i.  Similar  are  some  compounds 
in  dijiLko-  particularly  affected  by  Cyrill  of  Alexandria,  e.  g. 
d(j)L\66eo<i  and  d<f>t\6KOfji7ro<;,  hardly  different  in  force  from 
a^eo9  and  dKoiJ,7ro<;.  Again  a  final  element  is  sometimes  added 
which,  while  formally  the  second  member  of  a  bi-merabral 
compound,  is  hardly  more  than  a  mere  suffix  in  force.  The 
phenomenon  is  frequent  in  the  language  of  Aeschylus  and  may 
belong  to  the  solemn  diction  of  the  old  religious  poetry.  Cf. 
such  series  of  names  of  divinities  as :  "E/caro?  (Apollo),  'E/caep- 
709,  'E/c77^oXo?,  'E«:aT7//3oX,o9  ;  'Apiarr)  (Artemis),  'Apta-To^ovXr], 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  53 

'ApKTTo/jbdxV'  (Usener's  Gdtternamen,  pp.  49  f. ;  A.  J.  P.  xvii, 
357-8.)  In  the  case  of  the  negative  coniponnds  those  which  have 
an  active  sense  are  occasionally  extended,  mostly  in  late  Greek,  by 
being  again  compounded  with  -ttoco'^, -rrpay^'i,  or -epyo';.  Soa^o/3o- 
TTotof,  schol.  Aescij.  =  a(^o/3o9,  Aesch.  Prom.  902;  aSiKOTrpayt]^, 
Stob.  nearly  =  aSiKO<i  ;  so  d6efjitTOvp'y6<;,  Eccl.,  (i6ep,LT0<;  ;  dvocn- 
ovpyo';,  Aristotle,  Ep.  Plat.,  dvo&ia. 


IX.     HISTORY  OF  THE  FORMATION  OF  NEGATIVE 
COMPOUNDS  IN  GREEK. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Greek  negative  prefix  is  the  formal  equiv- 
alent of  the  corresponding  element  in  the  original  pro-ethnic  speech, 
and  it  is  an  interesting  question,  but  one  hardly  to  be  satisfactorily 
answered,  how  many  of  the  pro-ethnic  negative  compounds  the 
Greek  inherited  and  preserved.  Fick  in  his  Worterbuch  der  Indo- 
germanischen  Sprachen,*  I,  pp.  85  f.,  gives  a  list  of  10  such  words, 
aytTTTTO?,  dvayij'i,  dvv8po<i,  aKvpo^,  djv(oTO<;,  dfi^poro'i,  airov^i, 
dvdFaro^,  d(f)diTo<;,  dv7rvo<i.  Such  a  list  has  some  slight  value  but 
must  not  be  accepted  as  at  all  certain.  In  the  case  of  such  a  pro- 
ductive type  of  formation  it  is  very  possible  that  two  or  more  in- 
dividual languages  may  have  combined  phonetically  equivalent 
elements  quite  independently.  Again,  some  of  the  old  words  may 
have  survived  in  a  single  language  only  or  the  form  may  have 
become  altered  in  one  or  more  of  the  languages  owing  to  analogical 
influences.  A  comparison  of  the  phrase  KXiFa  dc^dirov,  II.  9, 
413,  with  the  Sanskrit  gravas  aksitam  gives  strong  proof  of  the 
high  antiquity  of  d(j)diTo<;,  and  the  retention  of  the  /u,  in  d/x0poTO<; 
marks  the  compound  as  old.  Fick  compares  *d^poT'r]aio<i  with 
the  Zend  amerefdt. 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  the  readiness  with  which  new 
compounds  w^ere  made  in  the  Greek  language  and  the  types  of 
formation  which  were  prevalent  varied  much  in  the  diiFerent  periods 
of  the  language  and  the  different  spheres  of  the  literature  in  which 
they  were  employed. 


54  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

The  following  tables  are  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  determine 
the  growth  in  the  use  of  the  negative  compounds  and  derivatives 
as  far  as  is  shown  by  the  emergence  of  new  words  with. the  develop- 
ment of  the  literature.  To  undertake  to  examine  the  text  of  the 
various  authors  with  reference  to  the  use  which  they  made  of  the 
negative  compounds,  new  and  old,  would  carry  us  beyond  the  limits 
of  this  dissertation. 

It  cannot  be  claimed  for  the  following  tables  that  they  are  be- 
yond the  need  of  revision.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  additions, 
notably  words  from  the  new  Bacchylides,  the  tables  include  only 
the  words  found  in  Liddell  and  Scott's  lexicon.  To  ascertain  the 
first  occurrence  of  the  words  in  the  literature  Stephanus'  Thesaurus 
has  been  used.  The  corpus  of  inscriptions  has  not  been  taken  into 
account  except  in  the  instances  where  a  word  is  cited  only  from 
inscriptions,  and  there  is  a  possibility  of  error  in  the  uncertainty 
as  to  the  genuine  and  spurious  portions  of  the  Hippocratean  corpus. 
There  are  included,  too,  a  few  of  the  inevitable  cases  of  doubtful 
date  and  etymology.  Absolute  accuracy  in  such  a  set  of  figures  is 
perhaps  hardly  to  be  thought  of.  The  main  outlines,  however,  of 
the  tendencies  of  the  language  are  made  clear  and  can  be  given  so 
satisfactorily  in  no  other  way. 

Our  collection  of  the  negative  compounds  is  more  complete  than 
the  one  included  in  the  general  lists  of  Greek  compounds  made  by 
Schroeder  in  his  book  "Ueber  die  formelle  Unterscheidung  der 
Redetheile,"  pp.  198  ff.  A  collection  of  the  Latin  compounds  and 
derivatives  containing  m-privative  has  been  made  by  F.  L.  Vicol, 
Programm  des  Gr.-Or.  Obergymnasiums  in  Suczawa,  1890  and 
1891. 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek, 


65 


TABLE  I. 

Showing  the  emergence  of  new  negative  words  in  the  literature  by 
classes  and  by  authors,  periods,  or  departments.  See  classification  on 
p.  16.  The  column  headed  m  includes  anomalous  forms  which  could 
not  be  otherwise  classified. 


g 

TO 

o 

u 

O 

^ 

XI 

•*-"  ^ — » 

o    . 

O   o 

a  . 

n 

J3 

TO 

a.3 

a, 

a>  c 

a  P- 
°  £ 

TO    " 

o 

a 

C 

a: 

to    E 

.s 

te 

s 

93    H 

It 

<0 

s 

e  v^ 

I- 

O 

c 

-a' 

TO 

> 

^ 

«  e 

> 

o 

s 

o  V 

If    TO 

<u 

Q) 

a^  ^ 

<u 

tc 

4-  ^ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

^ 

_> 

"13  bt 

o 

Oj 

cj   ^ 

c3 

'3 

> 

> 

B 

03 

_> 

_>   ^ 

> 

o 

A 

& 

a, 

O- 

<u 

4J 

<V 

lU 

V 

s 

« 

s 

8 

8 

^ 

^ 

M 

Q 

Q 

P 

-< 

ac 

6 

C 

d 

ef 

.9 

A 

i 

k 

/ 

m 

Tot. 

Indo-European  (?),  v.  Fick.. 

1 

4 

5 

4 

10 
1 

19 

2 

10 

Homer 

13 

6 

71 
15 

(5) 
(1) 

2 

84 
11 

6 
1 

17 
3 

9,9fi 

Hesiod 

39 

Early  elegiac  and  iambic  po- 

etry  

5 

11 

IV 

6 

1 

1 

41 

Homeric    hymns    and   later 

epic 

?: 

n 

10 

1 

3 

1 

?R 

Early    melic    poetry    before 

500  B.  c 

2 

11 

17 

J 

1 

2        3 

37 

Frags,  early  hist.,  phil.,  com. 

• 

before  500  B.  c 

13 

11 

56 

3 

46 

6 

4 
13 

3 

2 
6 

^0 

Aeschylus 

143 

Aeschylus  and  Pindar 

1 
3 

8 
15 

2 

9 
12 

209 

11 

26 

2 

6 

53 

1 

6 

1 
18 

31 

3 

9A 

Pindar  and  Bacchylides 

48 

Total  before  500  b.  o 

45 

210 

(6) 

603 

Attic  philos.   and  tech.   lit. 

exc.     Plat.    Aristot.     and 

Hippocr 

3 

20 

2 

2 

/ 

1 

3 

38 

Sophocles 

10 

43 

5'' 

3 

4 

o 

q 

123 

Euripides 

8 

35 

36 

5 

I'' 

4 

100 

Tragic  frage , 

1 

9 

3 

Herodotus 

6 
10 

13 
34 

3 

14 
49, 

1 

13 

40 

1 

9 

1 

5 

17 

1 

53 

Hippocrates 

150 

Historians,  lesser  and  lost.... 

2 

1 

2 

2 

7 

Old  Com.  fragg 

2 

14 

18 

5 

7 

^ 

1 

3 

1 

53 

Aristophanes... 

3 

16 

1 

6 

3 

7 

1 

3 

39 

Antiphon 

1 

10 

1 

9, 

6 

9 

?,^ 

Andocides 

5 

1 
?8 

1 
6 

3 

1 

4 

? 

3 

Thucydides 

4K 

Lysias 

5 

3 

2 

1 

11 

56 


The  Negoiive  Compounds  in  Greek. 


TABLE  I   (Continued). 


Isocrates , 

Isaeus 

Plato  

Xenophon 

Aeschines 

Demosthenes 

Hypereides 

Aristotle 

Middle  and  New  Comedy. 


Total  Attic  period. 


Alexandrian  poetry. 
Alexandrian  prose.... 


Total  Alexandrian  period.... 


Roman  period,  exc.  eccl.  and 
teclinical 


Early  Byzantine  period  (330- 
622  A.  D.),  secular  lit 

Roman  and  Early  Byz.  peri 
od?,  eccl.  lit 

Later  Byzantine  lit 

Anth.  Pal 

Oracles 

Inscriptions 

Math,  and  Astron 

Medical  lit 

Rhetores,  grammarians,  scho 
lia,  lexica,  etc 


Total  Byzantine,  eccl.,  tech- 
nical lit.,  etc 


Uncertain. 


Grand  total 352  1631  (10)  15  883 


78 


17 


66 


15 

57 
13 
3 
2 
3 
3 
14 

34 


144 


402 


113 


214 


50 

250 
62 
19 

3 
12 

7 
64 

216 


683 


(1) 


(i: 


(2) 

(1) 


(3) 


«/ 


264 


70 


83 


27 

51 

17 

24 

6 

3 

3 

15 

107 


253 


27 


20 


95 

2 

177 


3 
1 

37 
6 
1 
3 
2 

34 
5 

193 

4 
37 

41 


81 


190 


561 


13 


49 


23 

2 


13 


25 


38 


94 


11 

70 

25 
25 

28 


35 
9 
1 

3 
1 
6 

43 

101 

2 

257 


10 


Tot. 

9 

5 

137 

57 

10 

20 

7 

167 

19 

1081 

79 
204 

283 


518 


128 

508 
146 
53 
16 
28 
20 
112 

511 


1522 

22 

4029 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 


57 


TABLE  II   (Summary  of  Table  I). 


Literature  before  500  b.  c... 
Attic  literature  after  500  B.C. 

Alexandrian  literature 

Literature  of  Roman  period, 

exc.  eccl.  and  technical 

Byzantine,  eccl.  and  technical 

lit 

Uncertain 

Grand  total 


45 

78 
17 

210 
402 
113 

(6) 
(1) 

2 

7 
1 

209 

264 

70 

26 

27 
7 

53 

193 

41 

6 
15 

7 

18 

23 

2 

31 

70 
25 

3 

2 

66 

214 

3 

83 

20 

81 

8 

13 

28 

2 

144 
2 

683 
9 

(3) 

2 

253 
4 

95 
2 

190 
3 

13 

38 

101 
2 

3 

10 

352 

1631 

(10) 

15 

883 

177 

561 

49 

94 

257 

603 

1081 

283 

518 

1522 
22 

4029 


TABLE   III. 

Showing  percentage  of  new  negative  words  by  classes  in  various 
groups  of  authors. 


Indo-European  (?),  F'ick.... 

Early  Epic  and  Lyric 

Frags,    early  hist.,  philos 

and  com 

Aesch.,  Find,  and  Bacchyli- 

des 

Before  500  b.  c 

Attic  philos.  and  technical 

lit.,  exc.  Plat,  and  Aristot. 
Soph.,  Eur.  and  tragic  frags. 

Herodotus 

Hippocrates 

Historians,  lesser  and  lost 
Comedy,  Old,   Middle  and 

New 

Thucydides 

Orators 

Plato 

Xenophon , 

Aristotle 

Attic  lit.  after  500  b.  c 

Alexandrian  lit 

Lit.  of  Roman  period,  exc. 

eccl.  and  technical 

Byzantine  and   ecclesiasti- 
cal  

Anth.  Pal 

Oracles 

Inscriptions 

MatheiDatical  and  n^edical 

lit 

Rhetores,        grammarians, 

scholia,  lexica,  etc 

All  the  literature 


.100 
075 


.080 
.075 

.079 
.080 
.113 
.06 


,054 
,104 
.046 
058 


,053 
090 
072 
060 

108 

131 

057 
125 
107 

129 

067 
087 


.400 
.321 

.550 

.373 
.348 

.526 
.350 
.245 

.227 
.286 

,306 
,583 
,483 
,372 
526 
413 
372 
399 

459 

414 

358 
,188 
429 

538 


423 
4051.004 


.005 


,003 


.020 
.148 

.009 

,011 
.007 


.006 
.004 

.004 

004 


^f 


.500 
.375 

.150 

.316 
.347 

053 

.398 
.264 
.280 
.286 

252 

.125 
138 
.197 
193 
180 
244 
247 

.135 

.140 
453 
375 
107 


.024 


.080 
,043 

,053 
,035 

007 


099 

Oil 
007 
018 
012 
025 
025 

047 

087 
057 
188 
036 


.078 


,200 


,013 


,099  .005 
088  .010 


136.045 

209.043 
2191.044 


,184 

0 

245 

267 

286 

.171 
.063 
184 
270 
105 
2>)4 
179 
.145 

.151 

.146 
.057 
.125 
.179 

.091 

.108 
.139 


019 

,013 


,027 

034 
007 

024 
.014 
.025 

Oil 

.008 


016 
.012 


.038  .062 


,019 
,030 

,026 
009 
019 


,018 
.083 
,057 
,029 
,035 
012 
021 
007 

021 

015 

036 

008 

049 
023 


.100 

.028 
.051 

.079 
.058 
.094 
.013 


054 
042 
034 
051 
070 
.066 
.065 
.088 

.062 

.051 
.019 

.107 

.053 

.084 
.064 


,008 


.005 


.007 


009 


002 

002 
004 


002 

002 


=  1.000 


58  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

The  total  number  of  compounds,  not  including  derivatives,  for 
all  the  literature  is  3058,  while  for  the  Sanskrit,  Knauer  gives 
only  1475,  and  for  Latin,  Vicol  counts  only  846  true  compounds 
(including  the  mutata).  As  far  then  as  the  mere  number  of  words 
is  concerned,  it  is  not  true,  as  Froehde  says,  1.  c.  p,  214,  that  the 
use  of  the  negative  prefix  is  in  Greek  more  limited  than  in  the 
other  languages  which  possess  it. 

15  per  cent,  of  all  the  compounds  given  in  the  lexicon  appear  in 
the  literature  before  500  b.  c.  The  Attic  literature  adds  26.8  per 
cent,  and  the  Alexandrian  7  per  cent.,  making  a  total  of  48.8  per 
cent,  before  the  Roman  period.  The  Roman  period,  excluding 
ecclesiastical  and  technical  literature,  adds  12.9  per  ceiit.  and  the 
Byzantine,  ecclesiastical  and  technical  literature  37.8  per  cent.  Un- 
certain are  .5  per  cent.  It  will  be  seen  that,  as  in  Latin,  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  negative  words  belong  to  the  post-classical 
period.  Thus  it  would  seem  that  the  negative  prefix  was  one  of 
those  elements  of  language,  both  in  Greek  and  in  Latin,  which 
became  much  more  productive  as  the  making  of  the  literature 
passed  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  those  who  were  not  born 
to  the  traditions  of  the  classical  speech.  Negative  terms,  for  ex- 
ample, are  quite  prominent  in  the  list  of  Greek  words  used  by 
Cicero. 

From  Table  I  it  may  be  seen  that  the  only  authors  or  groups 
of  authors  of  the  classical  period  in  whose  writings  100  or  more 
of  these  negative  words  appear  for  the  first  time  are :  Homer, 
Aeschylus,  Sophocles,  Euripides,  Hippocrates,  Plato,  Aristotle. 
In  the  later  language  the  new  words  appear  very  largely  in  the 
departments  of  medicine  and  philology.  On  the  other  hand  the 
conservative  vocabulary  of  the  orators,  with  all  the  bulk  of  this 
department  of  the  literature,  furnishes  only  87  new  words  altogether, 
and  no  one  orator  as  many  as  20  except  Antiphon  (22)  and  Demos- 
thenes (20).  The  number  in  the  latter  case  is  to  be  explained  as 
due  largely  to  the  great  bulk  of  the  extant  orations.  It  is  signifi- 
cant, however,  that  Antiphon  furnishes  the  largest  number  of  new 
negative  words  of  any  of  the  orators.  The  fact  that  he  is  the  first 
of  the  orators  may  be  off-set  by  the  small  bulk  of  his  extant  ora- 
tions. But  Antiphon's  elevated  style,  the  sternness  of  his  subject, 
homicide,  his  religious,  almost  Aeschylean  tone,  his  fondness  for 


(   UNIVL 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Gh-eek.  59 

antithesis  and  parallelism,  tlie  fullness  of  significance,  which  he  is 
wont  to  compress  into  single  words,  all  contribute  to  explain  his 
proneness  to  employ  the  negative  compounds  and  their  derivatives, 
a  proneness  still  more  apparent  after  a  glance  at  a  few  pages  of  his 
text.     Cf.  A.  J.  P.,  XVI,  525. 

In  the  search  for  new  words  a  proportionately  larger  number 
are  of  course  to  be  expected  in  an  earlier  than  in  a  later  portion  of 
the  literature.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  classical  literature 
after  Homer  gained  a  very  large  proportion  of  its  negative  com- 
pounds from  the  poetic  sphere  of  tragedy  and  the  more  or  less 
technical  works  of  Hippocrates,  Plato  and  Aristotle.  Very  few 
new  compounds  are  to  be  cited  from  the  fourth  century.  In  later 
Greek  important  accessions  to  the  number  of  new  words  come  from 
the  Anthology,  Cicero,  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  Diodorus, 
Lucian,  and  Cyrill  of  Alexandria.  Many  are  very  late  and  are  to 
be  found  only  in  Hesychius,  Eustathius,  Tzetzes  and  the  Etymo- 
logicum  Magnum ;  many  are  cited  simply  as  ecclesiastical  or 
Byzantine. 

Table  III  gives  the  percentage  of  the  whole  number  appearing 
in  any  author  or  group  of  authors  which  is  formed  by  any  one 
class.  A  glance  at  the  first  column  in  Table  III  shows  that  only 
a  small  proportion  of  the  total  number  of  negative  words  is  formed 
by  the  compounds  of  prefix  +  adjective,  especially  in  the  classical 
language.  Herodotus,  Thucydides  and  Aristotle  show  a  slight 
advance  on  the  rest,  while  the  proportion  is  lowest  of  all  in  the 
orators.     It  becomes  larger  again  in  late  Greek. 

Next  in  interest  is  a  comparison  of  the  second  and  fourth 
columns,  classes  6  and  ef.  The  great  majority  of  the  negative 
compounds  in  Homer  are  either  verbal  compounds  of  the  type, 
aSdfx,acrTo<;,  or  secondary  possessives  (mutata)  of  the  type,  a0yX\o<?. 
We  observe  relatively  a  quite  steady  advance  of  the  later  language 
beyond  the  earlier  in  the  making  of  the  -to?  compounds  and  a 
still  more  striking  falling  off  in  the  introduction  of  new  mutata, 
compounds  whose  second  member  is  a  noun  or  a  verbal  stem. 
These  changes  are  most  noticeable  in  prose.  Thus  in  Homer  and 
early  lyric  poetry  the  mutata  of  class  efare  the  more  numerous  ;  but 
the  relation  is  reversed  in  Hesiod,  Aeschylus,  Pindar  and  Bac- 
chylides,  while  in  the  fragments  of  early  philosophy,  history  and 


60  The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 

comedy  the  shift  is  very  much  more  marked.  For  the  whole 
period  before  the  fifth  century  the  proportions  are  about  equal. 
In  tragedy  after  Aeschylus  the  mutata  again  predominate,  also  in 
the  Ionic  Herodotus  and  Hippocrates,  but  nowhere  else  within  the 
range  of  the  table  except  in  the  very  poetic  spheres  of  the  Anthology 
and  the  Oracles.  The  mutata  are  slightly  the  more  numerous  in 
Alexandrian  poetry  (not  shown  in  Table  III,  but  see  Table  I). 
In  comedy,  Plato,  Xenophon  and  Aristotle  the  -To<i  compounds 
predominate,  and  in  Thucydides  and  the  orators  the  percentages 
of  mutata  are  away  down  to  about  the  level  of  late  Greek.  In 
the  fragments  of  philosophy  (largely  those  attributed  to  Democri- 
tus)  and  in  inscriptions  the  proportion  of  the  mutata  is  lowest. 
The  large  use  then  of  the  mutata  in  preference  to  the  verbals  in 
-ro<;  is  most  clearly  poetic  and  perhaps,  though  of  this  we  do  not 
feel  so  certain,  it  is  Ionic.  Many  of  the  mutata  belong  only  to 
the  higher  ranges  of  literature  and  never  gained  currency  in  prose. 
It  seems  to  have  been  distinctly  an  older  habit  of  the  language  to 
coin  a  mutatum  from  a  noun  than  to  make  a  new  verbal  in  -T09 
from  the  verb  which  corresponded  to  the  noun.  Yet  as  early  as 
Homer  we  find  a  number  of  pairs  like  the  following  :  airvpof;, 
airvpcoTOf;,  areXr]<i,  driXea-Ta,  dTifjbO<;,  dTi./xTjTO<i.  The  slight  rise 
in  the  proportion  of  mutata  in  the  philological  literature  is  largely 
due  to  the  citation  of  rare  words  in  the  lexica.  In  the  later 
literature  the  list  of  -ra  compounds  is  swelled  by  the  numerous 
compounds  with  verbals  having  already  a  prepositional  prefix. 
The  solitary  example  in  Homer  is  diTpoTiixaaTo<i  ;  Hesiod  adds 
dve'7ri^earo<i  and  dveTrippeKTOf;. 

In  the  column  containing  the  percentage  of  compounds  of  class  g 
(as  dvaiS6-fji,axo<i  Bacchylides,  etc.)  the  highest  percentages  are  in 
Aeschylus,  Pindar  and  Bacchylides,  comedy,  ecclesiastical  and 
Byzantine  writers,  and  most  of  all  in  the  Oracles,  which  last  speaks 
especially  for  the  high  poetic  tone  of  these  imposing  compounds. 
Those  in  comedy  may  be  credited  to  mere  comic  exuberance  in 
word-formation  or  to  parody  and  paratragedy,  those  in  ecclesiastical 
and  Byzantine  writers  to  the  general  tendency  of  late  Greek  toward 
making  common  the  loftier  diction  of  earlier  times. 


The  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek.  61 

The  column  headed  h  contains  tlie  percentages  of  tlie  new  deriva- 
tive nouns,  for  the  most  part  abstract.  These  next  to  the  -to<; 
compounds  and  the  mutata  are  the  most  numerous  of  the  negative 
words ;  see  foot  of  Table  III.  Indeed,  in  the  orators,  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  and  in  much  of  the  late  prose  they  rank  next  to  the  -T09 
compounds  and  exceed  the  mutata  in  number.  Disregarding  the 
fragments  of  the  lesser  historians — the  numbers  are  so  small  that 
the  proportions  may  be  only  accidental — the  highest  percentage  is 
Plato's;  the  percentages  of  Herodotus  and  Hippocrates  follow 
close  behind.  The  small  number  of  new  negative  abstracts  in 
Thucydides  is  noticeable,  but  then  Thucydides  could  say  rj  ov 
8idXv(TL<i,  etc.;  cf.  p.  31.  The  percentages  are  low  in  the  poets. 
This  may  have  some  relation  to  the  use  of  the  neuter  of  adjectives 
as  abstract  nouns,  which  is  more  characteristic  of  the  older  language 
(Wil.-Moell.  on  Eur.  H.  F.  75).  On  the  relation  between  the  use 
of  negative  abstract  nouns  and  the  negative  articular  infinitive  no 
trustworthy  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  this  table.  For  the 
orators  the  numbers  of  new  negative  abstracts  are  too  small  to 
afford  any  reliable  basis  for  inference.  Better  results  would  doubt- 
less be  gained  by  studying  the  use  of  all  the  negative  abstracts  in 
the  indices  and  texts  of  the  Attic  writers. 

The  derivative  adverbs  with  the  negative  prefix,  outside  of  those 
regularly  formed  in  -&)«?,  are  mostly  those  in  -i  (-el)  and  are  shown 
by  the  tables  not  to  have  been  at  all  numerous,  only  94  in  all. 
Yet  a  few  new  ones  appear  in  every  period  of  the  literature  (see 
Tables  I  and  II),  notably  23  in  good  Attic,  and  25  in  the  late 
grammarians  and  lexicographers. 


The  VT}-  compounds.  Leaving  out  of  account  vrjiria  and  its 
derivatives  as  being  doubtful  in  etymology,  the  compounds  in  vtj- 
make  their  appearance  in  the  literature  as  follows  :  Horn.  13,  Hes. 
5,  lyric  poets  2  +  2  doubtful,  Pind.  2,  Emped.  1,  Soph.  1,  Old 
Comedy  1,  Com.  Anon.  1,  Hdt.  1,  Hippocr.  1+1  doubtful,  Andoc. 
1,  Alexandrian  poetry  7,  late  Greek  13. 


62 


Tlie  Negative  Compounds  in  Greek. 


Of  the  52  compounds  and  derivative  words  in  v-q-  only  13  ap- 
pear first  in  prose,  and  only  one,  vrjiroivel  (Andoc,  after  Homeric 
vrj-TToivo'i),  first  in  Attic  prose.  Considering  the  poetic  and  archaic 
sphere  of  these  vrj-  compounds,  the  predominance  of  the  mutata 
{ef)  was  to  be  expected.  This  is  very  marked  in  the  Early  and 
Attic  literature  but  does  not  hold  true  for  the  later  period. 


a 

b 

ef 

g 

h 

i 

k 

I 

Tot. 

Early  and  Attic  literature 

1 

3 

7 

14 
4 

2 

7 
4 

1 

1 

5 
2 

3'?, 

Alexandrian  and  later  literature... 

20 

Total  

1 

10 

18 

3 

11 

1 

1 

7 

52 

LIFE. 

HolHster  Adelbert  Hamilton  was  born  in  Wayne  Co.,  New 
York,  Jan.  14,  1870.  His  preliminary  education  was  received  in 
the  public  schools  of  Rochester,  New  York.  In  the  autumn  of 
1888  he  entered  the  University  of  Rochester  from  which  he  was 
graduated  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  June,  1892.  He  takes 
this  opportunity  of  expressing  his  sense  of  indebtedness  to  the 
instruction  in  the  classics  and  to  personal  influence  of  Professors 
Geo.  M.  Forbes  and  H.  F.  Burton.  During  the  years  1892-94 
he  was  vice-principal  of  the  high  school  at  Waterloo,  New 
York,  and  during  the  years  1894-96  he  was  instructor  in  Latin 
and  Greek  at  the  University  of  Rochester.  During  the  years 
1896-99  he  was  a  graduate  student  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, making  Greek  his  principal  and  Latin  and  Sanskrit 
his  subordinate  subjects.  Here  he  was  successively  appointed 
university  scholar  and  fellow  in  Greek,  and  in  1899  he  received 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy.  He  attended  the  lectures  of 
Professors  Gildersleeve,  Warren,  Bloomfield,  K.  F.  Smith  and 
Miller,  to  all  of  whom  he  desires  to  make  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment, and  especially  to  Professor  Gildersleeve,  who  by  his  kindly 
interest,  by  the  inspiration  of  his  teaching  and  by  the  influence 
of  his  own  personality  has  imposed  a  debt  of  lasting  gratitude. 


63 


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